Brown bear eats shot black bear on Mitkof Highway

Alaska state troopers are asking for the public’s help in seeking the person who fatally shot a black bear and left it in a ditch along Mitkof Highway on Monday or Tuesday.

Trooper Cody Litster responded to a call Wednesday morning of a black bear dead at mile marker 19 near Crystal Lake Hatchery. It had been shot but the bear had been dragged from the ditch and onto the road, left mangled and half eaten.

“You wouldn’t want to eat in a wet, nasty ditch, right?” Litster said. “Might as well put it on a plate.”

Litster cited evidence of greasy foot prints and smear marks, indicating a brown bear...