A moose has tested positive for rabies in Western Alaska.
The Norton Sound Health Corporation’s Office of Environmental Health is encouraging residents of the region to make sure that their pets are vaccinated against the rabies virus after a moose tested positive for the virus in Teller.
According to a release from NSHC, on June 2, residents in Teller — a community of about 250 people, roughly 70 miles northwest of Nome — reported that a moose was acting aggressively toward people and showing other signs of the virus.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game responded, and the moose later tested positive for rabies.
The rabies-positive moose is the first confirmed case in Alaska. The virus detected is the same variant of the rabies virus that has been found in red foxes, which according to Fish and Game, suggests the moose was most likely infected by a fox.
Fish and Game encourages anyone who finds a dead mammal or sees a mammal exhibiting signs of rabies, to report their sighting immediately to Fish and Game.
Signs of rabies include sudden behavioral changes, such as staggering, aggression, fatigue, excessive drooling, uncoordinated movements, biting at themselves, chasing vehicles, or acting unaware of their surroundings. Photos and videos can be helpful to evaluate the animal, but it is most important to keep your distance to avoid exposure.
All dogs and cats should be vaccinated against rabies at three months old, again one year later, and every three years after that.
To contact Fish and Game to report anything wildlife-related, call 907-443-2271. To reach out to NSHC regarding pet exposure or vaccinations, call 907-434-1659 or 907-434-0543.
The red fox is found throughout much of Alaska. (Lisa Hupp/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
From January through this April, more than a dozen red foxes in the Nome area have shown signs of rabies and tested positive for the virus.
According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife veterinarian Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, during a typical winter there are usually only two or three positive rabies cases from the Nome area.
“There’s been 16 total red foxes, if you count Nome and the surrounding area — plus there was one each in Unalakleet, Shishmaref and we diagnosed one and Brevig Mission,” Beckmen said.
The case in Brevig Mission was diagnosed on Wednesday, April 26.
Preliminary 2023 results already show differences from samples taken two years ago. Of 11 foxes this year that were found dead or killed in Nome by dogs or because they appeared rabid, all were positive for the virus.
Of the 61 red foxes counted in and around Nome between February and March 2023, nearly one quarter were positive. This is an increase over the 17% of positive foxes during a similar period in 2021.
Norton Sound Health Corporation, the City of Nome, the Office of the State Veterinarian, and the National Park Service assisted in the research.
This year, the Centers for Disease Control donated Bionote rabies test kits to the state. Beckmen said that with those kits, officials can confirm in minutes if rabies is present in fox brain tissue, rather than the hours previously required.
“If it’s positive, we can get that positive result right away and make sure that the dog or person that was exposed is notified right away,” Beckmen said. “They get the appropriate treatment and boosters.”
If someone believes they have been exposed to rabies, they are advised to immediately seek medical attention.
Beckmen said dog-to-human infection by the rabies virus — after a dog has encountered a rabid fox — is of concern.
“We have had cases even this winter where a red fox attacked a person,” Beckmen said. “Most of the time, people recognize that this is not a good thing and they seek medical care. (But) if a dog gets attacked by a fox or tangles with a fox, and people don’t know about it, and then the dog becomes rabid and then bites a person, that’s an unknown exposure, so the person doesn’t get treated.”
According to the health corporation, no cases of rabies in humans has been detected since January.
Beckmen said if Western Alaskans see a fox acting aggressively or afraid, or trembling or having what looks to be seizures and aggressively biting at an inanimate object, the best advice is to put it down.
“If they see a fox like that then they should shoot it and submit it to Fish & Game,” Beckmen said.
Alicia Reitz, with Norton Sound Health Corporation, says dogs and cats in the region can get vaccinated at no cost.
“We have one in almost every village who can vaccinate for rabies, and it’s free,” Reitz said. “We have vaccinators in Nome that we have trained through Norton Sound Environmental Health.”
Reitz added that keeping dog food and garbage away from foxes helps to limit their presence in towns and villages. Making sure pets are always supervised or tied up and unable to interact with potentially rabid foxes is another important factor.
Rabies vaccines for pets are free. In Nome, contact the Nome Animal House at (907) 443-2490 or Rural Alaska Animal Resources (907-443-5697) to vaccinate your pet. Outside of Nome, contact NSHC’s Office of Environmental Health at (907) 443-9767 for when vaccinations will be available in your community.
Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe pins the Alaska Heroism Medal on Cpl. Bruce Boolowon in Gambell. (Photo courtesy Robert DeBerry, Alaska National Guard)
A Gambell man has been recognized by the top military officer in Alaska for his lifesaving effort in 1955.
In June 1955, Soviet fighter planes shot down a U.S. Navy P2V-5 Neptune flying on routine patrols over the Bering Sea. It crashed in flames on St. Lawrence Island, according to the Alaska National Guard.
Part of the Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune wreckage still remains in Gambell. (Photo courtesy of Gay Sheffield/UAF Northwest Campus and Alaska SeaGrant)
Boolowon is believed to be the last surviving member of the St. Lawrence Island rescue team. He attended a ceremony at the John Apangalook Memorial High School in Gambell on March 28. He was awarded the Alaska Heroism Medal from the Alaska National Guard and Alaska Office of Veterans Affairs.
Russians landed often in Gambell during the Cold War, but the visits were not usually nefarious, according to the Associated Press. Since St. Lawrence Island is so close to Russia, people routinely traveled back and forth to visit relatives.
Boolowon recounted when his unit first caught sight of the damaged U.S. Navy airplane.
“They came in and one engine was smoking, and then we knew, with the high-pitched motor, we knew there was something wrong with them,” Boolowon said.
Boolowon was happy to receive the medal for his squad’s action that day in 1955.
“I think it’s a good thing, really, to be awarded several years later,” Boolowon added.
JoAnn Kulukhon is a relative of men in the 1st Scout Battalion. She radiated praise for Boolowon at the ceremony.
“I’m so proud of him and happy,” Kulukhon said.
Alaska Adjutant General and Commissioner of the Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs Major General Torrence Saxe presented Boolowon with the medal.
The Alaska Heroism Medal is the state’s highest award for valor during peacetime.
Miron Golfman approaches the finish line in Nome for the 2023 Iditarod Trail Invitational race. (Nils Hahn/Nome Nugget)
While the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was making statewide, national and international news over the past week, another group of trail enthusiasts was blazing a path alongside the mushers.
Miron Golfman of Anchorage crossed the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Invitational in downtown Nome Wednesday at 12:51 p.m. The human-powered race follows the path of the famed dog race.
The Iditarod Trail Invitational, a bike, ski and foot race, travels from Knik Lake near Anchorage to the interior community of McGrath, continuing to the Bering Sea before reaching the trail’s conclusion in Nome.
The course travels along the Historic Iditarod Trail and, according to race organizers, requires self-sufficiency and resilience to make it through up to 30 days and nights of freezing temperatures and inclement weather.
Golfman left Knik Lake on Feb. 26 and finished in Nome with a moving time of 6 days, 21 hours, 5 minutes. He had a resting time of 10 days, 1 hour, 34 minutes. He averaged 5.9 mph while underway and covered an average of 57.1 mile a day.
Conditions were treacherous from the start, he said.
“We went right into first night, and it was negative 30 degrees out on the Yentna River, and a lot of folks got frostbite and got eliminated immediately … on day two we hit this big snowstorm and we all contended with that,” Golfman said. “We were able to get up and over the Alaska Range before the snowstorm hit us, but we were just like everyone else contending with that and 80 mph winds, and it was whiteout snowing.”
Conditions warmed up on Monday, and that brought a different kind of challenge to the trail, according to Golfman.
“I clocked 49 degrees on my thermometer at the peak in one day, and so everything turned to slush,” Golfman said. “I ended up spending almost two days pushing my bike, and my every bit of gear got wet because the second day it rained, and I was pushing my bike through about seven hours of rain. Everything got drenched.”
Riding on his 9ZERO7 Lynxbike, Golfman was racing to raise funds for the Ride to Endure project.
“This was my second annual ride for the Ride to Endure campaign, which is a charity that I started a couple years back,” Golfman said. “It is raising funds and awareness for ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
Golfman’s uncle is six years into his battle with that disease. Golfman has previously lived with him and was his primary caregiver. It was the experience of taking care of him that inspired Golfman to pursue his passion of becoming a bike racer.
A total of 98 competitors took part in this year’s invitational. Three more bikers finished together Thursday night, just before Iditarod musher Mike Williams, Jr. crossed under the burled arch in Nome.
A subsistence camp in the Nome area after the historic September storm hit Western Alaska. FEMA says it cannot cover damaged or destroyed fish camps, but State of Alaska assistance can. (Courtesy Bridie Trainor)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has disbursed more than $3.3 million to help Western Alaskans rebuild after ex-typhoon Merbok struck the coast a month ago.
According to a recent email update from FEMA, 422 Alaskans have been approved to receive individual assistance thus far. A third of the awarded funds — $1.12 million — has gone to housing assistance while over $2.1 million has been disbursed to cover other needs, such as subsistence equipment and replace furniture.
FEMA notes it cannot cover damaged or destroyed fish camps, but State of Alaska assistance can go towards rebuilding those structures.
During last week’s Alaska Federation of Natives convention, some attendees told KNBA radio that the individual assistance being awarded by FEMA is just a drop in the bucket. It isn’t enough to cover a four-wheeler or snowmachine, let alone the cost of building materials.
Officials with FEMA are also in the process of doing home inspections and helping residents register for assistance across the region. They were in Hooper Bay and Chevak over the weekend and currently have officials in Golovin.
Those seeking disaster funds as a result of Merbok should apply for both the State of Alaska assistance and FEMA assistance. The deadline to apply for federal assistance with FEMA is Nov. 22, while the State of Alaska deadline is Nov. 17.
According to the agency, storm survivors without a physical street address may have challenges applying via the FEMA online application. These survivors are advised to apply by calling FEMA’s Alaska disaster assistance hotline listed above.
An aerial view of St. Lawrence Island, circa 2015. (Photo by Laura Kraegel/KNOM)
Two foreign nationals coming from Russia were detained on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island earlier this week before being taken to Anchorage.
The two unidentified men arrived by boat on Tuesday in Gambell, a Siberian Yupik community of roughly 600 people on the western edge of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Gambell is about 200 miles southwest of Nome and just a few dozen miles from the coast of Russia. By Wednesday morning the two men were transferred to Anchorage, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials.
The Department of Homeland Security and the office of Customs and Border Protection in Alaska are taking the lead on this case.
“The individuals were transported to Anchorage for inspection, which includes a screening and vetting process, and then subsequently processed in accordance with applicable U.S. immigration laws under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a limited mobilization last month, drafting up to 300,000 men for Russia’s failing invasion of Ukraine – a move which has made many potential draftees, particularly in outlying areas of Russia, try to leave.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan identified the two people who boated to Gambell as “Russian nationals” in a Thursday statement, saying both had requested asylum in the United States.
“This incident makes two things clear: First, the Russian people don’t want to fight Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, given Alaska’s proximity to Russia, our state has a vital role to play in securing America’s national security,” Sullivan said.
Murkowski noted that the federal response was “lacking,” calling for additional federal resources to be sent to Alaska.
“Only local officials and state law enforcement had the capability to immediately respond to the asylum seekers, while Customs and Border Protection had to dispatch a Coast Guard aircraft from over 750 miles away to get on scene,” Murkowski said. “This situation underscores the need for a stronger security posture in America’s Arctic, which I have championed throughout my time in the Senate.”
A spokesman for Sullivan declined further comment on the incident Thursday.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Alaska Public Media reporter Chris Klint contributed information to this story.
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