View Full Version : Alaska authorities say woman may have died in wolf attack
"Alaska authorities say woman may have died in wolf attack"
Folks, ya' gotta' know the neighborhood and use a little SA.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/12/alaska.animal.attack/
"....Berner was an itinerant special education teacher, according to CNN affiliate WTAE-TV of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Authorities listed her address as Perryville, Alaska, around 30 miles from where her body was found.
She had arrived in Chignik this week to work at the school there, the Slippery Rock Herald said. Berner had been with the Lake and Peninsula Borough School District since August, schools official Rick Luthi said......"
I think it was TS who said you better bring your A game when out in the wild. I have never understood all this liberal wild animals are cute and cuddly hype, and never bother humans unless provoked media blitz. I definitely agree Ms. Berner should have had better SA, but I wonder if she believed this stuff ignoring the fact she was in untamed Alaska, and wolves are powerful predators.
My dad used to read us Jim Corbett books around the fireplace as kids. You learn that while few wild animals are maneaters, they all warrant healthy respect. I thought there was a tiger behind every tree the first night !
She was training for a race and could get into a meditative state when running, her father said.
Not a good way to survive in either a wilderness or urban scenario.
Been following our local news on this. More in-depth coverage here (http://www.adn.com/2010/03/10/1178020/residents-unnerved-by-pack-of.html).
As well as here (http://www.adn.com/2010/03/11/1179489/troopers-release-statement-today.html): (CHIGNIK LAKE, Alaska)-- Investigation has determined that Candice Berner's death was non-criminal in nature. An autopsy conducted today confirmed Ms. Berner died from injuries sustained in an animal attack. According to the State Medical Examiner, the manner of death is "accidental" and the cause of death is "multiple injuries due to animal mauling". After conferring with state biologists and the community of Chignik Lake, it has been concluded that the animals most likely responsible for the attack are wolves. The Alaska State Troopers'(AST) death investigation regarding this incident is closed.
-S
Utah Bob
03-12-2010, 13:51
Alaska ain't for wimps.
Or people who run "in a meditative state" without a shotgun.
My dad used to read us Bill Corbett books around the fireplace as kids. You learn that while few wild animals are maneaters, they all warrant healthy respect. I thought there was a tiger behind every tree the first night !
AKV, I believe the author is Jim Corbett. I read all his books growing up - they were in my mother's library, inherited from my grandfather, who raised his family in India (missionaries). I grew up hearing stories of tigers outside my mother's window, leopards sitting under streetlamps in the dark of night, that sort of thing.
A little off-topic, but the Jim Corbett books are fantastic reading. I highly recommend them. In fact, here's a link to a free e-book of his: Maneaters of Kumaon. (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/adventures/images/jim-corbett-tiger.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/adventures/jim-corbett-hunter.html&usg=__wDWWLPV9rSZWjOjsGwqbwEmq_Hg=&h=318&w=450&sz=42&hl=en&start=23&sig2=PuORo-Lcww3_LFtt8tXJTQ&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=yuEiAT7zTNCbwM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djim%2Bcorbett%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%2 6hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=mpuaS8iuEZiOtgO9nbiuAQ)
-Susan
Requiem,
Yes, I originally typed Bill by accident, thanks.
I agree, and have several of them lying around somewhere
-AKV
Alaska ain't for wimps.
Or people who run "in a meditative state" without a shotgun.
Yessir. Agree.
Here's a guy who went prepared and wasn't meditating during a walk with dog:
Twig snap alerts dog-walker to charging grizzly
By MIKE CAMPBELL
For Soldotna fishing guide Greg Brush, the rare and precious finally arrived -- a summer day off between king and silver salmon seasons.
It was Aug. 2, a little after 11 a.m., when he headed down Dirks Lake Road, a quarter-mile from his home, taking three dogs for some exercise in preparation for hunting season. Brush talked to his animals as they walked past homes on one- to five-acre lots.
The slightest noise -- a twig snapping -- prompted Brush to glance over his shoulder. Less than 20 yards away, a brown bear was charging, "ears back, head low and motorin' full speed.
"Came with zero warning," Brush said. "No woof, no popping of the teeth, no standing up, nothing like what you think."
Brush said he wears a pistol on his walks because bears have chased his dogs in the past.
He drew a Ruger .454 Casull revolver. There was no time to aim, barely time to squeeze the trigger. He's not sure whether he got off two shots or three, but one proved fatal.
"Total luck shot," he said.
"It doesn't get any closer. He slid by me on his chin when I shot him," Brush said. "I was backpedaling as fast as I could. I wasn't even aiming. I tripped over my own feet as I pulled the trigger."
He estimated that the animal weighed 900-plus pounds, and was 15 to 20 years old. It had grass packed in its molars and little fat on its bones.
"It was starving to death and saw an opportunity," Brush said.
The encounter left the fishing guide, in his words, "a wreck -- dry heaving and hyperventilating, with some abdominal cramping."
It also left him with a problem. After state troopers came out to check the bear and determine that the shooting was legitimately in defense of life and property, Brush had to deal with the carcass. The law requires a shooter to skin the animal or take it to a taxidermist.
"So here I am with my wife and with a 10-foot brown bear on the edge of the road."
With the help of four men, he dragged it into a tilt-bed trailer and took it to Soldotna taxidermist Kenny Jones.
A couple of hours later, he returned to the taxidermist to pick up the carcass and deliver it to the dump.
"I never ever thought it would happen to me. It's always some other (guy), right? It totally wiped me out . . . by far the most emotion I have ever felt at once."
Link (http://www.adn.com/2009/08/13/897940/twig-snap-alerts-dog-walker-to.html).
-S
Yessir. Agree.
Here's a guy who went prepared and wasn't meditating during a walk with dog:.......................
Ya' just have to love this story. The guy shoots a bear in self defense, the cops rule the shooting good to go and then "You shot it, it's yours, clean it up.":D
Ya' just have to love this story. The guy shoots a bear in self defense, the cops rule the shooting good to go and then "You shot it, it's yours, clean it up.":D
Not only that, Alaskan Troopers take roadkill to the food banks. :D
Seriously!
-S
(Okay, it's moose and it has to be fresh, but still...)
TOMAHAWK9521
03-12-2010, 16:20
People fail to keep in mind that they are entering the food chain every time they pursue such activities as SCUBA diving or "going for a walk" in places like AK, the Pacific Northwest, most of Canada, etc.
Buffalobob
03-12-2010, 16:22
My dad used to read us Jim Corbett books around the fireplace as kids.
My Dad did the same.
Scared me so bad I was afraid to turn out the lights at bedtime.
People fail to keep in mind that they are entering the food chain every time they pursue such activities as SCUBA diving or "going for a walk" in places like AK, the Pacific Northwest, most of Canada, etc.
Ain’t that the truth!
This thread reminded me of this video for some reason:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMbnmLLnsfw
Had a similar experience in Thurmond Chatham (1/2mi North of Bell Branch) although it wasn’t as dramatic as the vid above - bow hunting with cubs around is the Shnizzle…LOL…don’t end up between the two…
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_z2zWCrGEKc4/Sumd7sZDGEI/AAAAAAAADR4/tF37nlrNWDY/s1600-h/tcglmapbook.JPG
DinDinA-2
03-16-2010, 08:42
State kills wolves in wake of teacher death
CHIGNIK LAKE: Pair were believed to have attacked woman while she jogged.
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com
(03/15/10 23:03:52)
State officials on Monday found and killed two wolves thought to be responsible for killing a teacher in Chignik Lake last week, according to the Department of Fish and Game.
The wolves were found in the Chignik drainage a week after the March 8 death of 32-year-old Candice Berner, a special education teacher killed in an apparent wolf attack while jogging along a remote road, according to Alaska State Troopers. Troopers say they think at least two or three wolves were involved in the attack.
They and a state Department of Fish and Game biologist have been in the Alaska Peninsula community since late last week seeking to capture or kill the wolves, though blowing snow had prevented them from taking to the air.
On Monday, winds settled enough to let them get a look around, Fish and Game spokeswoman Jennifer Yuhas said in an e-mail. As of Monday evening, searchers had found old tracks but had not seen or killed any wolves, she said.
A subsequent aerial outing turned up two of the wolves, she said. One of them was lighter than the other, which appeared to be more healthy, she said.
"The wolves taken match descriptions of wolves seen at the recent fatality site of Candice Berner," Yuhas said in an e-mail. "They will undergo a variety of tests including rabies. It will be very important to learn as much as we can from the samples we have obtained. Genetic material from all biological samples (wolves) taken will be compared to samples taken from the victim."
State officials plan to resume searching for more wolves this morning, she said.
Yuhas said no fresh wolf tracks have been reported near town. But townsmen have reported sightings of wolves in and near town in recent days. Local hunters began patrolling for the wolves after Berner was killed, but have so far not killed any, stymied by conditions and terrain, she said.
Berner, a special education teacher based in Perryville, was originally from Slippery Rock, Pa., and arrived in Alaska last August. She stood about 4 feet, 11 inches tall and was an athletic person, an avid runner, according to her family. Officials from the Lake and Peninsula School District said Berner, who rotated among five villages and arrived in Chignik Lake on Monday, left work at the end of the day to go for a run.
A group of snowmachiners found her a short time later. Her gloves were in the road and Berner's body had been dragged off the road down a hill. Troopers say the wolves partially predated her and inflicted severe damage to her throat in the attack.
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Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
BlackHills
03-16-2010, 15:39
The CNN article failed to mention something that was in the first article I read about this attack...that she was likely wearing an iPod. That's a sure way to lose SA. From http://www.adn.com/2010/03/11/1179368/teacher-likely-killed-by-wolves.html Bob Berner said troopers told him his daughter had an iPod with her and was running toward town when the wolves attacked her about a mile and a half out.
The Reaper
03-16-2010, 18:48
The CNN article failed to mention something that was in the first article I read about this attack...that she was likely wearing an iPod. That's a sure way to lose SA. From http://www.adn.com/2010/03/11/1179368/teacher-likely-killed-by-wolves.html
I have to wonder when I see people out running or walking with their earplugs in.
Situational awareness of a rock.
Then they wonder how they got hit by a car.:rolleyes:
TR
.....Situational awareness of a rock.
Then they wonder how they got hit by a car.:rolleyes:
TR
Or grabbed from behind and dragged off the running trail into some brush.
I would guess the average female jogger could probably out sprint the average thug if she had a little warning and got a few steps on him.
Ever notice how few people crossing face to face on a trail want to make eye contact and give a little nod?