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Last
year Big Game Alaska Wildlife Center received moose,
deer, black and grizzly bears, owls, bison muskox and
a variety of game birds to care for. Big Game Alaska
is entirely self-supported and relies on customer support
to continue its mission of wildlife rehabilitation.
All of your purchases contribute to the animal care
and rescue program.
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The
first animals you will see are bison. The original members
of Big Game's bison family were abandoned calves that
had to be bottle-fed. The largest, named Big Boy, now
weighs more than 1 ton.
Bison
are gregarious and live in herds whose range includes
grasslands and open woodlands. They have poor eyesight
and depend on their sense of hearing and smell.
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Game Alaska has cared for and stabilized a large number
of moose, the largest member of the deer family. Mattie,
a 5-year-old cow moose was brought to Big Game when she
was less than 5-days-old. Her mother was killed by stray
dogs in Palmer, Alaska. Mattie has starred in more than
10 commercials and loves to eat bananas. Seymour, a 4-year-old
bull, was brought to Big Game when he was 1-year-old and
faltering due to malnutrition. You may have seen him on
TV as the star of a Pep-Boys brake commercial. |
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 Sitka
black-tailed deer are often orphaned in areas where
there is active logging and the deer are run over by
trucks. Big Game has rehabilitated deer from the outermost
tip of Southeast Alaska, as well as deer from the Prince
William Sound area. These tiny fawns usually weigh less
than 5 pounds when they arrive at the wildlife center.
Sitka
black-tailed deer are smaller than their southern cousins.
The antlers are similar to the mule deer, forking rather
than all points coming from a single main beam. The
Sitka blacktail deer is rarely found on the mainland
of Alaska, preferring the islands of Alaska's coastal
rain forests.
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Some of the elk at Big Game Alaska originate from the
Yukon territory and were shipped here for care. A female
elk will abandon her calf if it is born to late in the
season because it would not be able to survive the cold
northern winter. Our large bull, Danny, has helped produce
a healthy herd of strong, stable animals. Look for newborn
calves in June.
Elk
calves have primarily a brown coat with light spots
until early fall. The calves are usually born May through
June. Look for newborn calves in June here at the wildlife
center.
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Caribou
are rarely orphaned because another member of the herd
will usually care for any calves who lose their mother.
A number of Big Game's caribou were rescued from islands
that were overpopulated and could not sustain healthy
animals. To prevent starvation some animals were removed
and Big Game shared in the rescue effort.
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the nomads of the North, caribou are constantly on the
move. At least 13 different herds have been identified
in Alaska. |
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The Musk Oxen is a member of the goat family. It is
an arctic survivor with a thick coat consisting of long
(up to 36 inches) guard hairs covering a dense winter
coat of harvestable warm fur called Qiviut. Qiviut is
considered to be one of the warmest material in the
world.
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The
two male muskoxen at Big Game Alaska are part of a research
program in conjunction with the Institute of Arctic
Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The underwool
is combed out in May and Qiviut products are sold in
the giftshop.
Muskox
populations have been drastically reduced in recent
years. Hunted to extinction in Alaska in 1865 and successfully
reintroduced with a small herd from Greenland in the
1930s.
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Black
bears are the smallest bears in Alaska, but this is
relative. Adult males can weigh close to 300 pounds.
They are found in heavily forested areas throughout
Alaska.
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