Sincerely, Denise

SITKA AT THE DOCK

Friday, July 3^rd

Today is exploration day and we are packing a lot into our day. It’s pouring rain but we dressed for the weather and are doing some sightseeing regardless! First up at 9AM we visited the Raptor Center which is a rehabilitation and sanctuary for injured raptors. They take in birds from all over the US and rehabilitate them if possible, and if not then they become permanent residents of the facility or another facility. The birds they currently have as permanent residents are missing key elements necessary for survival and hunting, like a missing eye, a missing talon, or irreparable wing damage. In the case of the resident owls, their wings, while healed, now make too much noise for them to effectively hunt which I found fascinating. Apparently they are stealth hunters and rely on silent flight to catch prey, so if their wings make any minute noise they can’t go back into the wild. One of the resident eagles was found near power lines and they believe it was electrocuted, it can’t fly again. Another is brain damaged from blunt force trauma – probably hit by a car. Another lost its talon because it had been shot. They also had one non-raptor resident Raven they were taking care of who couldn’t fly so the top of his enclosure used to be open. The staff would feed the Raven fresh fish parts, but the Raven’s friends would come into the enclosure, bring him French fries from McDonalds, and the Raven would exchange fresh fish parts with the wild Ravens! Again, those crafty Ravens, gotta love their smarts. The Raven now has the top covered on his enclosure so his diet doesn't include fries, and the staff jokes that McDonalds left Sitka because of the bad press. After a lunch break at Mean Queen restaurant, a warmup session back at the boat, a quick shopping excursion (Jenn and Den) to wander the shops downtown, we were off to the Fortress of the Bears, the bear rescue center. We had a timed entry at 3:20PM along with about 30 other people. The Fortress of the Bears (FOB) was founded by a guy who used to hunt bears for a living. Over time he fell in love with the bears and could no longer hunt them so decided to turn his attention elsewhere. The policy for Fish and Game is when a mother bear is shot or dies in the wild and has suckling cubs, they unfortunately have to also euthanize the cubs because they will not survive on their own. The FOB currently has 8 resident bears that they acquired as cubs. Unfortunately, they cannot be returned to the wild so their mission is to provide them with a safe home for their lifetime. There are currently 5 brown bears and 3 black bears at FOB. Two of the browns are sisters so they are housed together and are a hilarious pair of playful girls. Two (neutered) male bears who are brothers and another female bear are in the other enclosure. Because they’ve known each other since birth, they all get along. The black bears are in their own enclosure and are never mixed with the brown bears, they would not get along. The grandkids absolutely LOVED the bears and had a marvelous time, as we all did. The two females were very active, playing with their toys of tractor tires, a buoy on a rope that one of them loved to swing around like a tetherball, and one of the bears also kept chasing ducks around the pond. Several Eagles lined the trees surrounding the sanctuary, and typical of scavengers would swoop down during feeding time and try to grab a morsel from the bears, so that was pretty entertaining as well. Dinner back at the boat was some fresh Halibut Tacos from the halibut John caught a couple weeks ago, so delish! Movie night introduced the grandkids to Second Hand Lions, one of John’s favorite movies. They loved it! Jenn and I hit the sack early.