Last year, Fish and Game and the Juneau Police Department received roughly 470 calls about bear activity. By the end of August this year, they had already fielded more than 600.

Residents speculate the black bears are venturing into town because they're hungry, after a poor run of pink salmon and rainy weather that hurt the abundance of berries, limiting food for the animals.

About 10 grizzly bears have been living at the community dump in Aklavik, N.W.T., this summer. Arey said a couple of bears were destroyed earlier this summer, but said more may need to be killed as residents are still seeing the bears coming into the community near homes.

Small, approachable, deer found with possible broken jaw, discolored saliva, and injury on hindquarter.

Half the bears were killed by people who said they were defending their lives or property. The other half were killed by police, park rangers or wildlife biologists.

Brown bears spotted by a resident for the first time on the island of Shishmaref.