An Alaskan Bear Story
<p>It’s no wonder, as there are 30,000 grizzlies in the state, compared with 1500–2000 in all of the lower 48. Add in all the polar, Kodiak, and black bears, and, indeed, you’ll be running into one type or another if you hang out in the vast wilderness long enough.</p>
<p>As a lab tech in the hospital in Nome, I took the opportunity, when the clinics closed, to talk with many indigenous people who lived and worked where the big bears made their homes.</p>
<p>Each evening, for one week in February, workload permitting, I would wander over to the nurse’s station, where the best coffee in the hospital was to be found. I’d fill a cup, load in two heaping spoonfuls of sugar, and walk down the hall to Frank Poodogoolik’s room to listen to his stories.</p>
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