Unusual coloration in bears is often the result of a recessive gene combination. According to researchers at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, light colored bears have been found in Interior Alaska, although this is the first observation of one submitted to LEO.

With few fish and limited berries, bear encounters are high in Alaska's capital city this year.

The rate of coastal erosion seems to be speeding up near Cape Blossom.

"I got under my kitchen table and it was very violent and loud and lasted quite a while. The tsunami sirens started right after it stopped."

Alaska Department of Fish and Game records show two other unusually wayward moose hunts: One in 2016 taken north of Teshekpuk Lake along the Arctic coast, and another in 2014 on the Kokolik River near Point Lay.

Usually Aug. 7 is the midpoint of the coho run, but this year it was not until Aug. 8 that numbers at the Bethel test fishery increased, and then only modestly.

Until 2007, there have been only three verified reports of green sturgeon in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, and two anecdotal reports from the Copper River and Unalaska areas.

Officials have been receiving reports of Steller sea lions hauling out on beaches in poor condition, but have been unable to retrieve the animals for research — largely because they are in remote areas.