ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed

PETITIONED: not petitioned at this time

RANGE: The Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

THREATS: Sport hunting and bear baiting, defense of life and property kills, degradation of habitat due to human population growth and development, roadkill

POPULATION TREND: The number of Kenai brown bears was unknown prior to 2010, when the best population estimate was 582 bears. The population is thought to have been relatively stable until 2013, but the current trend is one of precipitous decline, with 125 bears known to have been killed since that year due to the sport hunt that occurs on the peninsula, as well as other human causes. An additional 28 bears are estimated to have been killed by people, and left unreported. It is likely at least another 16 bears will be killed fall 2014, bringing the total this year to 70 bears. Taken together, this means at least 141 bears have died since 2013, which amounts to almost 25 percent of the total population.

Kenai Peninsula brown bear photo courtesy USFWS