Bears getting bolder in search for food

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published August 5, 2001

DAMASCUS, Ore. -- The 300-pound bruin in Todd Allen's front yard recently probably was just looking for a snack.

And if he found it, say officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, he likely would return.

Bears don't forget where they get food, said Donald Whittaker, game program coordinator with the department.

The rate of bears coming into urban areas has increased, said Whittaker, who coordinates the calls from landowners across the state who spot bears on their property.

In 1992, Whittaker fielded 291 calls, including complaints of black bears causing property damage. But the number of calls jumped to about 900 in 1999, Whittaker said.

Some evidence points to dry weather and thin berry crops as a reason for the bears leaving their traditional territories.

The northwest region of the state has seen its share in this increase of urban bears, said Tom Thornton, district wildlife biologist with the department.

Thornton, who handles bear calls in northwest Oregon, has fielded about 50 complaints this year. Most calls are because of a bear on decks or driveways.

Once a bear adapts to scavenging around homes, it is nearly impossible for it to revert to hunting in the wild, said Anne Pressentin, the department's spokeswoman.

If a bear becomes so familiar with humans that it isn't afraid of them, it is then a threat to human safety and must be destroyed, Pressentin said. That has happened five times this year in northwest Oregon.

Statewide, at least 20 bears are destroyed each year because they pose some type of threat to human safety, Whittaker said.

Thornton said that a few years ago it was unusual to do that at all.

Allen was watching television when he spotted the black bear about 50 feet from his front door. It walked across his front yard and into a wall of Oregon forest. Although Allen lives on a heavily forested 20-acre lot, his property is surrounded by busy roads and other homes, and is close to Damascus Middle School.

Allen probably saw the bear that has been spotted throughout Damascus the past few weeks. The bear has eluded capture and caused little damage except to a few garbage cans, Thornton said.

The black bear is the only species of bear native to Oregon, Pressentin said. They eat mostly vegetation but also snack on animals. Generally they pose little threat to humans, Pressentin said.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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