(I am several days behind because the internet service has been very, very, very slow. Remember dial-up? That would seem speedy compared to the upload speeds!)

We checked into The Alyeska Resort and thought, what shall we do now? The decision was to go to The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center - http://www.alaskawildlife.org Here's their mission statement -

"The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Alaska’s wildlife through conservation, public education, and quality animal care. AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year-round and provides spacious enclosures and quality animal care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center."

Here are a few photos and a movie of the bears. Jeff says the movie is too long, but I couldn't decide what to cut. There are also lots and lots and lots of animal photos - probably too many, but.......

Jack arrived at the center as a 3 day old moose with bite marks on his hind end, and a broken leg, and a 20% chance of survival. Vanessa, one of our fantastic interns took it upon herself to nurse Jack back to health. Because of her hard work, Jack is approaching 4 years old, and is a happy, healthy addition to the center.

Gilly and Nelson are the two moose calves that were rescued and brought to the Center in 2011. They have been put into the main enclosure with Jack, our other moose. When they arrived, these calves required round the clock care and feeding – but are always a favorite for our guests! AWCC kept these calves through the summer and ensured that they were wiened off of milk before the fall. Be sure to visit AWCC for a visit with Gilly & Nelson!

REMEMBER – Moose calves are rarely abandoned by their mothers! If you see a calf that you think is abandoned, contact the department of fish & game

AWCC maintains a herd of elk for Watchable Wildlife. Elk in Alaska are found on Afognak and Raspberry Islands off of Kodiak Island. Like the plains bison, many of the elk at AWCC were once ranch animals. The dominant male with the largest set of antlers is Homer, and the second largest is Danny Junior. Iggy is a female that was orphaned in 1994 and became habituated to people. Look for newborn calves in June.

Some of the elk at AWCC originate from the Yukon Territory and were shipped here for care. A female elk will abandon her calf if it is born too late in the season because it will not be able to survive a cold northern winter. Our large bull, Danny, has helped produce a healthy herd of strong, stable animals.

In the town of Willow, a brown bear sow killed a moose calf in a resident’s backyard. The man was afraid that the bear might try to attack his dog, so he killed the sow not knowing that she had cubs. In Alaska, killing a bear in defense of life or property is legal. Once he saw the two cubs at the top of a very tall and skinny birch tree, he called the area wildlife biologist to notify him of the situation.

Daring Rescue Saves Cubs’ Lives!! The biologist, who happens to be a former gymnast, daringly climbed to the top of the skinny tree and grabbed the smaller male cub by a rear leg, holding on to the tree with the other hand. He climbed down and lowered the cub into a fish net. The second cub was more of a challenge. She was a large female cub and acted aggressively. The biologist climbed to the top of the tree, injected her with a sedative then grabbed her by the scruff. As he began to climb down, the skinny birch tree began to bend and crack. The tree bent all the way over, delivering the biologist and the cub safely to the ground!

My bear movie -

I think this series could use some good captions ...

Love the 'grin'

Wood Bison Restoration Project

After more than 100 years of extirpation throughout Alaska, wood bison have found their way back to the state! In collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, AWCC is working to reintroduce the wood bison back into the Alaska wild. In 2003, 53 wood bison were brought to AWCC from a disease-free herd in the Yukon Territory in Canada. The goal is to release the AWCC herd back into the Alaska wild. Currently, AWCC is home to the only wood bison herd in the United States. The first wood bison calves born in the state of Alaska in over 100 years were born at AWCC in 2005. In 2008, AWCC received 50 calves from Canada and placed them with the existing AWCC herd. Since 2006, AWCC has seen the birth of multiple calves every spring. Look for small orange “lumps” in the exhibit near the bushes!

Not their best look in "molting" season.

Musk Ox

Muskox are members of the goat family. They’re an arctic survivor with a thick coat consisting of long (up to 36 inches) guard hairs covering a dense winter coat of harvestable warm fur called Qiviut. Qiviut is considered to be one of the warmest materials in the world.

Slide

Slide is an orphaned bull from the Yukon Territory. Slide was cared for as a calf at a game refuge in Canada and brought to AWCC in the winter of 2000. Record snowfalls and avalanches closing the Seward Highway delayed Slide’s arrival to AWCC but earned him his name. Mike Miller, AWCC’s Executive Director watched over the musk ox in a horse trailer in Anchorage for over 4 days while they waited for the highway to re-open.

Mukluk

Mukluk Introduced into the Existing Herd

In the summer of 2010, a Musk Ox calf was rescued from an oil facility in Prudhoe Bay. The staff of several different companies in the area assisted with the capture of the orphaned female musk ox. These same staff worked with Alaska Department of Fish and Game to relocate the calf to AWCC. From here, AWCC’s interns stepped up and took the animal in, nursing it through a couple bugs it had, and working very closely with Large Animal Research through the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Mukluk, as she became known is doing very well at AWCC. She spent the winter in an inclosure nearby the existing musk ox herd, and this spring, was introduced into this herd. She’s had a couple of ‘learning opportunities’ with the other Musk Oxen, but overall is fitting in nicely and doing well! AWCC continues to work with Large Animal Research for the best care for Mukluk and the other large animals at the Center. In the meantime, be sure to come down to the center to visit Mukluk – we’ll all be glad you did!

Sidney:

Sidney is a female musk ox previously used for research at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Still part of dietary and breeding studies she will live out her life at AWCC.

Two Musk Oxen calves were born on the snow on April 14; a third musk ox calf was born April 18. They are growing and thriving! The oldest, Chugach, weighs 25.6 lbs, Kenai is 24.4 lbs and the youngest, Wrangell, is 26.2 lbs. They are currently being fed 6 times a day, by our tireless interns!

Their father, a bull named Bob, was acquired from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Large Animal Research Center last fall. When Bob arrived, he dominated the herd and likely sired all of this year’s calves.

Could this be Bob?

Adonis is a gunshot victim found near a remote village in Alaska. His wing required full amputation, and he has lived at AWCC since 1995.

Sad that he/she is cages, but at least safe and fed.

Great Horned Owl

Believe it or not, I missed a lot of animals

Snickers

Snickers the porcupine is a favorite at AWCC! He is a gregarious little fellow, having been raised in a home, and relocated to the AWCC. Snickers is excellent for school presentations, where he will come out of his cage for the afternoon to entertain and teach the kids personally. Snickers became a star, when a Youtube video of him went worldwide and received almost 3,00,000 views! See that video here, and another of our favorites here. Click here to adopt Snickers!

Caribou

The caribou at AWCC were rescued from Alaskan islands, which were becoming overpopulated and could not sustain healthy animals. To prevent starvation, some caribou were removed and brought to AWCC.

Sitka Black-tailed Deer

The deer are the friendliest animals at AWCC and were all orphaned as young fawns. Solo and Leia are two of the youngest additions to AWCC. Both orphaned in the Summer of 2012, these curious yearlings became a favorite of the Wildlife Centers many visitors with their playful, albeit cute nature. Click here to adopt our Sitka Deer!

Lynx

During the summer of 2004, a working firefighter spotted month-old kittens in a recently burned area in Interior Alaska. Three kittens were found alone and suffered from burns on their paws, legs, faces and ears. The whereabouts of the mother was unknown. Had she died in the fire? Had she left some kittens behind, but carried as many as she could as she fled to safety? In need of treatment and knowing the kittens could not survive on their own, the firefighter put them into his backpack and carried them back to camp where he could make arrangements for their transport. Unfortunately, one male kitten died soon after the rescue, but the two females were flown to the Anchorage airport and transported to AWCC for treatment and care on July 20th. In the wild, lynx stay with their mothers for almost a year in order to learn hunting and survival skills. Since these lynx were orphaned at such a young age, a permanent home has been provided for them at AWCC. Photo courtesy of Gary Lackie.

As we were leaving the center, we saw these signs...

The natives call these "Ghost Forests" - they're all over the coastal areas of Alaska -

Portage is a former settlement on Turnagain Arm in Alaska, about 47 miles (76 km) south of Anchorage.^[1] The town was destroyed almost entirely in the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake when the ground in the area sank about six feet, putting most of it below sea level. All that remains today are the ruins of a few buildings and a "ghost forest" of trees that died after salt water inundated their root systems but preserved the wood. Where there was once a town there is now only a railroad and road junction linking the Seward Highway and the Alaska Railroad to Portage Glacier park and the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which leads to Whittier.