The Northern Climate Observer

The Northern
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Fearless On March 30, a family in Anchorage had an unusual encounter with a lynx. The cat was tracking a snowshoe hare but diverted from its prey when it saw two young girls playing nearby. When the lynx approached two-year old Eila Cipriano, her father Michael rushed to intervene. He jumped over a snow bank yelling at the lynx and slapped a snow shovel to try and scare it away. As reported in the Anchorage Daily News, "The cat stopped and started to back away, though it never really looked over at Cipriano and didn’t seem afraid of him. It didn’t blink or skitter away quickly, he said." That's a pretty crazy wildlife story even for Anchorage. We see plenty of lynx here but I don't recall hearing about encounters between lynx and people like this. What's really interesting, however, is that this is just the latest in a series of unusual lynx stories reported this year including from the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and in Northern BC. These have included attacks on livestock, dogs and people (see related articles). One possible cause in Canada is food stress and a downturn in the Arctic hare population. This is not, however, a factor in Southcentral Alaska this winter where snowshoe hare populations are fine. You can read about the events in Canada, and other stories from the past week about unusual behavior and 'fearless' animals. Mike Brubaker, Editor

	A lynx, a toddler and a bizarre encounter in an Anchorage Hillside driveway Anchorage, Alaska, United States Morgan Krakow / Anchorage Daily News / March 30, 2021 A wildlife biologist believes a lynx that recently approached a young girl may have been a juvenile. The girl’s father said he’s now on higher alert after the encounter. Read article on Anchorage Daily News
	Costco customers share experiences of raven thefts Anchorage, Alaska, United States Lex Treinen / Alaska Public Media / April 5, 2021 Costco customers in Anchorage have recently started sharing online reports of ravens stealing groceries from their carts and the back of their pickup trucks, and biologists say the behavior could spread around town quickly. Read article on Alaska Public Media
	Mysterious disease killing young California bears in Tahoe. One symptom: fearlessness Truckee, California, United States Ryan Sabalow / The Sacramento Bee / March 27, 2021 Young black bears, with no fear of people, are coming down with fatal brain inflammation in Nevada and California. Could new viruses be causing the disease? State veterinarians say that in the past 12 months alone, officials have captured three other bears with the same condition. Read article on The Sacramento Bee
	Nome and region is in the midst of a rabies epidemic Gambell, Alaska, United States James Mason / The Nome Nugget / April 2, 2021 Nome and the surrounding area, including St. Lawrence Island, is fighting rabies almost as hard as it is fighting COVID-19. Because of the high level of rabies infection Fish and Game requested assistance from the National Rabies Management Response Program. Their job is to manage a wildlife disease outbreak. Several technicians and a rabies biologist are in Nome reducing the number of foxes. Read article on The Nome Nugget
	Polar bear filmed running along road in Yakutia 460km south of its natural Arctic habitat Батагай, Верхоянский район, Sakha, Russia Siberian Times / March 30, 2021 The racing predator was seen 60km south of Batagai, north-east from republic’s capital Yakutsk. Read article on Siberian Times
	Fairbanks Borough schools closed Monday as region digs out from storm Fairbanks, Alaska, United States Julie Stricker / Fairbanks Daily News-Miner / April 4, 2021 Scattered power outages were reported this morning, and as the wind began picking up early this afternoon, more are expected. As of 9 a.m., unofficial measurements showed more than 19 inches of snow on Old Murphy Dome Road, 14 inches in Goldstream and almost a foot in Two Rivers. The official measurement on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus was 12.4 inches. Read article on Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
	Willows Starting to Bud Chistochina, Alaska, United States Wilson Justin and Katie Spellman / LEO Network / March 23, 2021 Early budding willows (genus Salix) were observed on the Chistochina Trail during temperatures of 18 above Fahrenheit. The average temperature on March 23, 2021 was 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest temperature on the day in the past twenty years. Read post on the LEO Network
	The Babushka of Baikal, the granny in her 80th year who has popularised the world’s deepest lake Khuzhir, Irkutsk, Russia Boris Slepnyov, Valeria Sukhova / Siberian Times / March 25, 2021 Lyubov Morekhodova glides over the ice on skates made by her father not long after World War II. She has lived on the shores of Lake Baikal all her life, where winter temperatures plummet to minus 50C. Read article on Siberian Times

The Northern Climate Observer is published by the Center for Climate and Health. We track news coverage from across the circumpolar north and provide readers with a curated roundup of climate change related events. Thank you for reading our newsletter and for paying attention to our changing world.

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Northern Climate Observer

The Northern Climate Observer is published weekly by the Center for Climate and Health. We track news from across the circumpolar north and provide readers with a curated roundup of climate change related events.

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