12. Dogs and Bears

November 19, 1994

Greetings from the Last Frontier with more notes from North Pole:

Summer's gone, matter of fact, so is fall.

We have been down to -10 and have about 25 inches of snow on the ground. The northern lights have returned to remind us that winter is not so bad. Diana and I went out the other night and nearly froze as we refused to go back inside. They were incredible with green on top and red on the bottom. They were like giant transparent curtains all over the sky. At one point red rays seemed to shoot down toward the house (but I wasn't beamed up) and just as I was thinking it could not get any better, a shooting star crossed through the whole scene.

Last January's epistle related my first encounter with a sled dog team. Believe me it's a lot different when you are running the dogs rather than being run over. One of my employees (Doug Beckstead) invited me to try my hand at mushing. He knew he had his work cut out when I stepped up on the runners and said OK where are the reins? The dogs went berserk, but luckily, the sled was tied to a huge iron pipe. Patiently, my friend explained that I had made two mistakes. Number one, there are no reins and, secondly, OK is the command he uses for the dogs to move out.

The dogs are controlled (his words not mine, I don't believe controlled should be applied to sled dogs) by four commands."Gee" for right,"Haw" for left, "OK" for go (instantly and always obeyed), and "Whoa" for stop (whenever they feel like doing it). Doug has plywood cages built onto his pickup (above the sides of the bed) and the dogs (9 of them) are lifted (60 pounds each = 540 pounds) into the boxes and we drive to the starting point. Then the sleds are taken down from the top of the dog boxes (luckily they don't weigh much) and tied to a strong object. Now, the dogs are taken out of their boxes (it was easier than lifting and I was not quite as conscious of the 540 pounds ) and attached to the sled.

After breaking up a couple of fights, we were ready to start. Then I made my third mistake. Doug said, "Let's head off down the trail to the left." I said, "OK" and the next thing I knew, the sled was on its side and I was being drug through the snow screaming WHOA! Finally, (seemed like a half hour to me) it got through to these half wild huskies that I really meant for them to stop (I believe that I am more trainable-because that one experience taught me to be careful with my vocabulary).

It is an incredible experience to be running at 10-15 MPH through the winter woods with only the whisper of the runners on the sled to disturb the quiet. We went for an hour and a half (10 mile) run. Going uphill the dog driver ("musher" is not used in Alaska) must get off and run beside the sled, so I guess it could be classified as good exercise. Too soon and the trip was over and it was time to lift the dogs (540 pounds!) back into their boxes and the sleds (they got heavier during the run) on top of the rig for the trip home. Once there, the dogs (somehow they got heavier during the ride) are lifted down from their boxes, fed, and watered. I found out two things: One, I love running dogs and two, I love running someone else's dogs. A full dog team takes too much work for me to want one of my own.

Alaska likes to think of itself (with apologies to singer John Denver and the State of West Virginia) as almost heaven. Its flag perpetuates this idea by carrying a heavenly constellation, the drinking gourd (big dipper) and north star that led slaves to freedom. To be a little more in tune with reality up here, we should probably change the constellation to Ursus Major (the great bear). You may have noted that bears tend to be of somewhat more than passing interest up here. Most of the incidents are relatively routine (for Alaska) and are reported as such, "hunter kills big bear" or "bear kills big hunter". Recently, however, this mediocrity was broken with the story of a new cult hero for the Last Frontier. However, a new twist has been added. Certainly, we are used to incidents of bears interacting with people (usually with somewhat less than desirable consequences for the humans), but we also expect to see locations such as Kotzebue, Coldfoot, or Anaktuvuk Pass and the hero (if its not a tragedy) tends to be human. Certainly, no one expected the latest episode to be in downtown Anchorage and the hero to be Binky (an 850-pound polar bear)

It all started last July at the Anchorage Zoo. An Australian woman climbed over two fences to get a close-up photo of Binky. She got lucky (broken leg and puncture wounds) when Binky stuck his head through the bars and grabbed her (after all she wanted a close up). The lady managed to get away, while another tourist took a picture of Binky parading around his cage with her tennis shoe in his mouth. Now, outside of Alaska, this may have created a furor and demands for greater tourist protection. Alaskans (they are different); however, realized that we have more tourists than polar bears. But, tourists do spend money so someone put out a T-shirt of Binky (with his trophy tennis shoe) and the slogan "Send more tourists. This one got away". The lady became an Alaskan (in fact, if not legally) when she admitted it was her fault (promising not to sue) and requested clemency for Binky. The incident would normally have been good for a few chuckles, a little money made from T-shirts and then forgotten. But, six weeks later the Australian lady became a part of Alaskan legend (although only as a supporting actress).

Two teenagers spent a warm (believe it or not it does get hot up here) evening trying to cool off with quite a few beers. Alcohol might be dangerous on a winter night at minus 30, but it can be even more hazardous on a hot summer evening at plus 80. The boys decided the beer was not working to their satisfaction and decided to cool off by taking a dip in Binky's pool.

They slipped into the zoo and started stripping down in front of Binky's cage. At this point, they learned that polar bears have their own sense of justice and proper procedures to deal with trespassers. Binky grabbed one and started trying to pull him through the bars. The second boy managed to get his friend out of Binky's reach, but not before the bear inflicted serious leg injuries and, according to rumor in Fairbanks, insured that no progeny of the lad would repeat this error.

Once again Alaskans rose to the occasion. Not one message cried for turning Binky into a rug or a static exhibit at the museum. On the contrary, there was a second financial windfall to T-shirt purveyors with "Binky for Governor. Take a bite out of crime" slogans. A cartoon showing Binky conversing with another polar bear stated, "Mauled teenager, my butt. How about 'Hero bear prevents youth from drowning'?". Letters to the editor were all pro-Binky with statements such as "When foolish people place their name on Binky's dinner menu, we should have the decency to allow Binky to eat his entire meal, in peace" and "set aside a day for teenagers to come and play with Binky if they want to: this would solve two problems. The food bill for Binky would be reduced and the test scores for our schools would certainly rise".

The boys face charges of trespassing and underage drinking. But, just like "Outside" (local term for any place outside Alaska) people are already rallying behind the boys (with a somewhat different twist) asking that they not be given any jail time because, "the State has already had its pound of flesh".

Once again it's time to end this epistle from Paul.