nuisance bear released on Olympic Peninsula

[Emily]

from the Tacoma News=Tribune
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/loca ... 38448.html


Tacoma, WA - April 18, 2008

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Elusive South Hill bear captured
MELISSA SANTOS; The News Tribune
Published: April 18th, 2008 01:00 AM
State wildlife agents have caught the black bear that had eluded them for the past two weeks in the South Hill area.
Agents tranquilized the animal about 3:45 a.m. Thursday after Pierce County sheriff’s deputies chased it up a tree with a canine unit.

The bear has since been released into the wild on the Olympic Peninsula, said state Department of Fish and Wildlife agent Justin Maschhoff.

South Hill residents first reported seeing the bear April 1. When it was spotted again at Bradley Lake Park a few days later, City of Puyallup officials closed the park to let state agents track it there.

After that effort failed, agents set up more traps in nearby neighborhoods, but to no avail, Maschhoff said. During the past week the bear mostly stayed hidden in well-forested areas, emerging at night to raid people’s garbage cans.

“He was a trap-wise bear,” said Maschhoff, the agent who shot the bear with tranquilizer darts Thursday. “I had one witness say they saw the bear walk all around the trap and eat some of the bait without going into it.”

Agent Ted Jackson said that the bear – a 3-year-old male weighing about 175 pounds – may have been caught before and learned to avoid capture. The bear had a scar on his ear where agents might have placed an ear tag during a previous encounter.

“If it’s been in a trap before, it’s almost impossible to get it back in one,” Jackson said.

The animal didn’t injure anybody, but did get into its fair share of yards and curbside garbage bins, Maschhoff said. He said that if a bear is loose in the future, residents should seal their garbage cans and take down their bird feeders to keep it away.

“That essentially helps us trap the bear,” Maschhoff said. “If there aren’t any other food sources out there, that makes our bait more tantalizing.”

Bear visits are not unprecedented in fast-growing East Pierce County. Fish and Wildlife agents caught a mother and her cub in Puyallup in April 2004. Those creatures had been spotted in the Crystal Ridge neighborhood, which overlooks the Orting Valley.

Glenda Carino, spokeswoman for the City of Puyallup, said Thursday that local officials are relieved.

“We’re just happy there were no major incidents while he was visiting us here in Puyallup,” Carino said.

Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058