MUKILTEO — A black bear’s spring strut in the city came to an end Sunday afternoon amid thunder, lightning, hail and rain.
The bear was chased up a tree in the Harbour Pointe Boulevard and Chennault Beach Road area, not far from Harbour Pointe Middle, Kamiak High and Columbia Elementary schools. Officers from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife captured the bear, estimated to weigh between 120 and 150 pounds.
Mukilteo is not a hotbed of bear activity.
“Being in wooded areas, they can wander here,” Mukilteo Police Officer Myron Travis said. “Being an urban community, there are power lines, there are children.”
A resident of the area first reported seeing the bear near homes around 12:30 p.m. Other calls came in later, which helped specify the area the bear was in. Mukilteo police assisted Fish & Wildlife officers, who tracked the bear with a Karelian bear dog named Colter . The dogs, similar in body to a husky and weighing about 40-65 pounds, are helpful in scaring bears to avoid humans. Once up a tree, Travis said a dart-injected chemical immobilizer was used to get the bear down from the tree top, where it fell into safety netting.
“I’m glad it was brought to a safe end for the bear and for the community,” Travis said.
It was unclear if it was the same bear spotted breaking into garbage cans and bird feeders and getting close to an elementary school last week in Mill Creek and Lynnwood.
The state estimates 25,000 to 30,000 black bears live in Washington. There are about 21,000 people in Mukilteo.
When people and urban development mingle with wildlife, the results can be dangerous beyond animal attacks. One study found between 725,000 and 1.5 million wildlife-vehicle collisions in the U.S. every year, resulting in 200 human deaths annually. A different Washington Department of Transportation study analyzed records of 14,969 deer and 415 elk removed from state highways between 2000 and 2004. As of 2016, road-killed deer and elk can be salvaged, with the proper permit.
A few years ago, bear traps may have been noticed by commuters along I-5 in Snohomish County. A bear was spotted in a wooded median near Stanwood, prompting Fish & Wildlife Sgt. Jennifer Maurstad to deploy the trap in hopes of avoiding a car or truck clipping along at 70 mph slamming into a bear trying to cross the road.
Black bear diets focus on plants — emerging grasses and sedges, horsetail, and other flowering plants — in the spring.
Experts recommend that people stay calm if they see a black bear. Do not run. Back away slowly. If the bear gets close or appears threatening, make noise, get big by waving your hands and, as a last resort, fight back.
This bear was in the custody of Fish & Wildlife, which planned to release it somewhere more suitable and less densely populated.
Sightings can be reported to 425-775-1311. You can learn about bear encounters at wdfw.wa.gov/living/bears.html.
Caleb Hutton contributed to this report.
Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037; Twitter @benwatanabe.
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