Here’s an interesting thing you may not have expected: Martial arts may be saving a small Alaska school.
Situated in the northeastern part of Prince of Wales Island, Whale Pass ranks as one of Alaska’s most isolated towns. With a population of under 100 permanent residents, accessing the nearest grocery store requires a 90-minute drive. Jesse is among the mere seven students enrolled in the local school. This low enrollment poses a critical threat since the state may terminate funding unless more students join soon.
All but one student at the school are involved in taekwondo, and their skills in martial arts could be the key to the school’s survival. Starting next year, Whale Pass will transform into a magnet school, enticing visiting students from the Lower 48 by promoting taekwondo as a major attraction.
This initiative is possible because Whale Pass holds the unique status of being the only school in the country to offer Songahm Taekwondo as an official school sport. As the inaugural ATA Martial Arts certified taekwondo dojo in Alaska, these students have effectively placed Alaska on the global taekwondo map.
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. The martial arts can be great for kids; they teach respect, discipline, and physical fitness. And if they save a school, so much the better.
And, only in Alaska: A moose gave birth right outside an Anchorage hospital.
While Providence Hospital often serves as the place of birth for many human babies in Anchorage, it also provides the perfect setting for wildlife births on rare occasions.
That was the scene Thursday morning on a patch of grass outside Providence, where a mama moose gave birth to the city’s newest calf.
The moment was captured on video by onlookers who were watching safely from behind glass panels on the building’s exterior.
This is a beautiful scene, and one that you won’t find in many places. But Anchorage is home to a pretty good population of moose right in the city, and the town is also frequented by bears, both black bears and grizzlies. There are also several wolf packs in the woods just outside the city limits. It’s one of those things that makes Alaska what it is.
Alaska Man score: 4 of 5 moose nuggets. An interesting and compelling scene, but the moose would have been better off choosing a place with more privacy.
But you want to be careful around moose, with or without calves.
A woman and a dog were injured in a moose attack Friday evening at Kincaid Park, an Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman said Saturday.
The incident reportedly involving a cow moose with a calf nearby happened around 5 p.m. Friday, APD spokeswoman Tess Hagensieker said.
Hagensieker said the woman was taken to the hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening, and one dog was hurt as well. Another person in the woman’s party called police after the attack occurred, according to Hagensieker.
Moose generally don’t react well to people turning them into the cops. There’s probably a saying in moose-ese – “snitches get trampled,” or something of that sort.
During the calving season this time of year, cow moose in particular may be aggressive, according to Fish and Game’s webpage on “What to Do About Aggressive Moose.” People can be injured when the animals charge, stomp and kick as a result of feeling threatened.
“In late spring and summer, cow moose with young calves are very protective and will attack humans who come too close,” Fish and Game says on its website. “If you see a calf on its own, be very careful because you may have walked between it and its mother — a very dangerous place to be.”
Large animals are dangerous. It’s unclear whether this woman had any idea the moose was in the area, but this is a park, and not the willow brush along, say, parts of the Chulitna River, where you can sometimes only see for a few feet. So we can’t assign any opprobrium for carelessness; sometimes these things happen.
No score for this one. It’s enough that everyone came out of it all right.
Finally, let’s look at an interesting new shooting iron from our gun safe.
