After a bear attack north of Lake Whatcom left a jogger with foot and hand injuries last week, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said there had been reports the sow had been habituated to non-natural food sources and frequenting the area.
The sow attacked a jogger on Aug. 3, and later that evening, the bear was found and killed.
Although it is standard procedure for bears who attack humans, the lethal removal caused concern among the community, which the WDFW addressed in a recent press release.
The choice to lethally remove a bear is made in conjunction with WDFW biologists, wildlife conflict specialists and law enforcement, according to the release.
When it comes to younger bears, WDFW can sometimes capture and relocate the bears. However, once an adult bear becomes habituated to non-natural food sources, relocation is not a successful option, said Chase Gunnell, who manages WDFW’s communications for the Puget Sound Region.
Non-natural food sources are “high-calorie human-provided food,” such as trash, bird feeders and pet food. Once a bear becomes aware of this food source, it will continue to come back, and in some cases even teach its cubs about these sources, leading to more conflict.
“Typically, that’s not something you can correct, the damage has been done,” Gunnell said. “… With this particular bear, there were reports that it had been habituated and had been in the area previously,” Gunnell said.
Gunnell said Washington state has around 500 reports of bear conflicts every year, several of which result in lethal removal as the bear is habituated to non-natural food sources.
Feeding bears, intentionally or not, is against the law in Washington state, and Gunnell said repeat offenders can be fined up to $1,025.
“We’ve been reminding people that they have a responsibility, and in fact, are required by state law to remove bear attractants to avoid repeat encounters,” Gunnell said of recent WDFW outreach.
Gunnell said WDFW takes the concerns over the bear’s lethal removal very seriously.
“I don’t think anyone gets into wildlife conservation and management to remove wildlife,” Gunnell said. “That’s not something we like to do.”
WDFW enforcement officers have been searching the area of Lake Whatcom to confirm reports there were sub-adult yearlings traveling with the bear involved in the attack but have not found any as of Aug. 11.
If there were small cubs dependent on their mother, it’s likely they would have been located by now, Gunnell said.
