For more than a year, an Eagle River brown bear family, a mother and her three cubs, lived near neighbors without incident. Neighbors knew them and photographed them.

On August 7, 2026, all four were killed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The bears had broken into a garage and killed 17 of 19 chicks kept there. The coop had no electric fence — the homeowner had one planned for September, just weeks away.

That gap cost the bears their lives, and no citation or arrest was made against the homeowner.

Even the department's own wildlife biologist, Cory Stantorf, called it "frustrating and disturbing to see four brown bears, perfectly healthy brown bears that are an important part of the population and the ecosystem," before they were euthanized. The agency issued no public statement — neighbors learned only through a reporter's questions.

Wildlife shouldn't pay with their lives for a fence that wasn't built yet.

The Alaska Board of Game and the Municipality of Anchorage can require electric fencing for backyard livestock in bear habitat. Sign the petition to demand that rule and real accountability — before another bear family pays for someone else's oversight.