Sick brown bear

FAIRBANKS — Michael Houx was driving Tuesday evening between Eielson Air Force Base and Salcha when he saw an animal that he at first thought was a caribou.

With caribou herds in decline and migration patterns swaying in recent years, news that caribou are following a more traditional migration route near Kivalina and Noatak caused a buzz this fall.

Beaver activity declining in Campbell Lake area

The caribou are crossing at different times and locations as the years go by.

11-29-14 Mollusks in moose gut - Egegik, Alaska, USA

Sixty-one thousand reindeer starved to death in the northwestern reaches of the Russian tundra in November 2013 in the largest recorded mortality event of its kind.

11-11-13 Weather effects caribou migration and season - Barrow, Alaska, USA

9-5-13 Caribou delayed - Kiana, Alaska, USA

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

10-1-12 More brown bears - Koyukuk, Alaska, USA

Across the Far North, populations of caribou — an indispensable source of food and clothing for indigenous people — are in steep decline. Scientists point to rising temperatures and a resource-development boom as the prime culprits.

Anchorage can no longer claim to be the largest port city in the Northern Hemisphere without known rat infestations. State biologist Rick Sinnott caught and kille dtwo Norway rats found living at a pond near a South Anchorage school. Professional exterminatiors hired by the city placed more traps at the scene Monday afternoon.