Precautionary steps can keep bears out of neighborhoods

Cathy Macchio lived in Issaquah for four years without once seeing a bear. But so far this summer she's seen two, and she has tracks to prove it.

Macchio, 44, saw a bear in the greenbelt near her house several weeks ago. Later, she discovered something had rummaged through her compost, and her neighbors' garbage cans were overturned, trash strewn nearby. Then, about a week ago, she saw another bear near a different greenbelt.

"We tried to chase it into the greenbelt, but it went around to other side, and it popped out into someone's yard," Macchio said.

Bears raiding garbage cans in residential areas is a seasonal problem, but this year is worse than usual, said Capt. Bill Hebner of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. His office in Mill Creek is getting about a dozen calls a day reporting bears in neighborhoods, and other regional offices are also reporting a high volume of calls.

The colder-than-usual spring weather left much of the black bears' foraging grounds covered in snow, Hebner said. Unable to find food in the foothills of the Cascades, bears turn to pet food, trash and bird-feeders that people leave within reach.

Macchio is afraid the black bears pawing around her Issaquah Highlands neighborhood might hurt someone.

"They are big," she said. "There's a lot of kids in this neighborhood, and you never know what could happen. If a kid gets between a mother and a cub, that's a very bad situation."

By nature, bears are afraid of people, Hebner said, and there have been only a handful of bear attacks in state history. Bears can become aggressive when they begin to associate humans with food instead of with fear.

"It starts when the bear doesn't run away when humans are chasing it," Hebner said. "You know there's a problem if it shows its teeth, if it false charges, if it tries to get in the house or tears into a shed."

If this happens, the department is compelled to kill the bear, Hebner said.

"It's sad that an animal has to be destroyed because humans were careless," he said.

In the past, the department has used a capture-and-release method in which the bear is immobilized, moved and released amid loud noises, barking dogs and a shot in the bottom with a beanbag gun, Hebner said. The idea is to recondition the bear to fear people and seek food elsewhere.

But the method causes discomfort and confusion for an animal, released to fend for itself in completely unfamiliar territory. That's if the department can even find an open space with enough food — unlikely this year because of the snowpack situation.

"It's basically moving a bear from my backyard to your backyard," Hebner said.

Hebner said he hates to turn to extreme measures when simple precautions could solve a bear problem. He encourages people who live in bear country to take down their bird feeders from April to October, keep their garbage in their garages until the morning of pickup, thoroughly clean outdoor barbecue grills and remove pet food from areas accessible to wildlife.

"Most people don't know these things," Hebner said. "But once they implement this advice, a lot of the problems are resolved."

It's the kind of advice Macchio is giving to her neighbors in Issaquah Highlands. She stuck fliers on garbage cans to warn neighbors not to leave trash out overnight, but she still sees bins outside the night before pickup.

"It's really frustrating that people do not take this seriously," Macchio said. "It's like they're just waiting for something to happen instead of being proactive."

Noelene Clark: 206-464-2321 or nclark@seattletimes.com