PAWS of Nome seeks funding for bark park, wildlife fencing

By Megan Gannon
When Nome begins to green-up, the musk oxen come back to town. As they graze on patches of grass, often within city limits, people are on alert for potentially dangerous encounters.
PAWS of Nome is raising money for efforts that might help mitigate the problem. The animal rescue and advocacy nonprofit is proposing to build a fenced-in park for pet owners to bring their dogs without having to worry about musk oxen. The group also wants to start a program to give people wildlife fencing for their homes. In late May, PAWS launched a GoFundMe page where supporters can submit donations online for the effort. The goal is to raise $100,000.
“The Curtis Worland Memorial Bark Park” would be named in honor of Nome resident and Alaska State Trooper Court Services Officer Curtis Worland, who was killed by a muskox in December while trying to push a herd away from his dog yard by snowmachine.
The idea for a park has been percolating for a long time, with groups like the Humane Society also wanting to get involved. But Emily Stotts, PAWS of Nome president, said that Worland’s death spurred her to take more decisive action over the last few months.
“It’s not something that was moving quickly enough for my taste, especially considering what happened to our friend this last winter,” Stotts told the Nugget. “I’m no longer waiting around for someone else. I’m just going to make it happen. I know it’s not a solution for what happened [to Curtis], but it’s a solution for so many other people that are within the city limits and have faced the aggression of a musk ox.”
As musk oxen herds have become a more common presence over the last two decades, Stotts said that she’s often uncomfortable taking dogs to the usual places where people take their pets to get exercise—behind the snow dump, near the dredge by Bering Air, near the VOR. “We were trying to go to all these places, but every single one has a herd of musk ox,” she said. Many dog owners also use the beaches, but the most accessible ones are close to busy roads or dotted with debris.
The group has two prospective locations for the park, both within city limits. Both would have several acres where Stotts would like to create trails on the tundra for dogs to roam off leash (though still protected by a fence), as well as a smaller park that’s more like a playground for dogs with play equipment on a pad. Stotts said she would manage the park personally monitoring the fenced perimeter for musk oxen and scooping up dog poop, although users would still be encouraged to pick up after their pets. Winter access to the tundra trails might be dependent on snow conditions, she said. She also envisions having memorial plaques for dogs that have lost their lives to musk oxen.
Stotts had proposed a dog park to the City of Nome Planning Commission almost a decade ago. She said she did a lot of research about how to structure such a park so that it’s not a hotbed of disease and dog fights. In her vision, the park would be open only to registered pet owners who could show that they’re up to date on their vaccines and access would be granted by a code. When the park is closer to becoming a reality, Stotts said she would also want to gauge interest from pet owners about other rules and hours they’d like to see. For example, she imagines that there might be a few hours a week when pet owners can reserve a time slot to let an unsocialized dog run around by itself and get some exercise without having to worry about conflicts with other pets.
The $100,000 budget is “the pie-in-the-sky dream budget if we could get it,” Stotts said. “That’s the amount it will take to not only start it immediately but keep it running for the first couple of years and have materials on hand. And half of that budget is shipping costs.”
The money would also help cover a program to give more community members free access to fencing material that could help protect their dogs from musk ox attacks. Musk oxen have been known to go after sled dogs that are tied up in dog lots, even when they’re fenced in. But Keane Richards, who’s working on this initiative, hopes that more secure fencing could lead to fewer encounters.
“Fencing is one thing that we know works,” Richards said. “Even though people say sometimes fencing doesn’t work, good fencing does work. Most of the issues that I see or have heard about related to dogs and musk oxen have to do with the dogs not being enclosed in a way that is safe.”
A three-sided enclosure, for example, or chain-link panels that musk oxen could move or find an opening to get through offer insufficient protection, he said.
“When musk oxen do get in, the results can be devastating,” Richards said.
The proposed program would help distribute 8-foot woven wire fencing from Alaska Farm Supply, with thaw pipes for fence posts that could be pounded into the ground three feet or deeper. The fences would also have secure gates.
Kamey Kapp Worland, the widow of Curtis Worland, said that naming the dog park after her husband would be a “thoughtful way to remember him.” While she thinks fencing is one potential solution to help reduce conflicts, she also expressed frustration that musk oxen are still such a threat in residential areas.
“I have had good friends and fellow dog mushers have their dogs fenced in as they had been instructed to do and the musk ox have still come after the dogs,” Kapp Worland said in an email. “I’ve seen a fence get torn apart and a dog disemboweled because the musk ox was that determined to get to them. We have had a lone bull break through wire fencing and gore one of our dogs, who after tens of thousands of dollars, survived. Whereas it is a deterrent to some of the encounters, it absolutely is not a solution for all. We cannot live behind fences. We need to get these animals out of our backyards and back in the wild where they belong. That is the only way we will truly be able to better prevent conflicts.”
Since Worland’s death, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game made more of the animals, including cows, available for harvest around Nome in the next hunting season. The quota for a Tier II musk ox hunt in the 22C game management unit has been increased from nine to 30 animals from August to March. The intent of the measure is to reduce human-musk ox conflict and hopefully help reverse the trend of the animals coming into residential areas.
Kapp Worland said she saw that change as “a show of goodwill,” but didn’t think it would change anything right now.
“Community members and dog mushers have already had numerous run-ins with the many musk ox that are already back in city limits,” she said. “You can call NPD and they will call ADF&G, but ADF&G will only respond ‘if they can.’ From my personal experience, ADF&G will only act if they view the ox as an imminent threat, and if there is already a musk ox attacking the dog, it’s usually too late. Most of our encounters are outside of business hours so we continue to take it upon ourselves to try to keep safe. I believe it’s just a matter of time before someone else is attacked because nothing is being done to prevent the musk ox from residing within city limits and that is a dishonor to Curtis’ memory.”
Some in the community had floated the idea of establishing a task force to help respond to musk ox problems, but Stotts, who is also the City of Nome’s Animal Control Officer, noted that laws surrounding human interactions with wildlife are very tricky.
“I hate to say it, but we’re going to need a lot of direction and support from state agencies and federal agencies,” Stotts said. “They’re the ones who have the final say about what we are legally allowed to do in regard to proximity of these wild animals.”
She also sees confusion and frustration among pet owners who are left to deal with the aftermath of a musk ox attack. Stotts said she will sometimes go to help after an attack, but just as a private, animal-loving citizen, not in any official capacity.
“It breaks my heart because like people will call into police dispatch and say, ‘Hey, my pet just got attacked by a musk ox, he’s dying, he got gored,’” Stotts said. “Well, the police department doesn’t get dispatched for that, Fish & Game doesn’t get dispatched for that, Animal Control doesn’t get dispatched for that. There is no help designated for it. And it’s never not happening. It’s pretty regular.”
Sara Germain, a Nome-based area biologist for ADF&G, said that department staff will respond to calls where the presence of musk oxen pose a safety threat—”for example, if musk ox are acting aggressively towards people or domestic animals, or if musk ox are getting too close to dogs that are not protected by fences.”
“Department staff have visited dog lots on multiple occasions this year where musk ox were getting too close to the lot and the safety of the dogs was at risk,” Germain said. “If an individual is worried about musk ox getting too close to themselves, their family, or their pets, they can call the ADF&G office during business hours at (907) 443-2271, or Nome Police Department after business hours at (907) 443-5262, as they are able to contact ADF&G staff after business hours to respond to wildlife issues.”