MARYSVILLE Local resident Mara Price shot pictures of a recent visitor to her yard a small bear nosing around the bird feeders behind her home north of Getchell Hill. Price said she was sitting reading the newspaper last Friday when something caught her eye.
I saw this furry leg, Price recalled. He was just walking toward the feeders and looking around. Hes under five feet when he stands up.
The young black bear first stood on his heels trying to get the suet but didnt have much luck, although he did much better with the bird seed. In all, she said, the visitor spent about 20 minutes in her yard and then wandered off into the adjacent greenbelt. A neighbor who moved away about two weeks ago had a dog and Price suspected that dogs barking kept most wildlife away. Not any more.
I hope the new neighbors have a dog, Price laughed as she discussed the pictures she snapped with her digital camera. Weve seen bear scat in the woods; we havent seen any recently.
She has lived on her 10-acre spread since 1999 and is used to seeing deer, having to fence in her corn patch to keep the nibblers away. There are many raccoons, opossums and skunks in the area, and when she first moved into the house she got a big surprise: lifting up the lid of the barbecue she found a baby opossum licking the grill.
Fish and Wildlife officer Rick Oosterwyk said its fairly common for bears to start visiting residents as compost piles heat up and exude smells that bears find yummy.
If theres something that smells good, they just go right to business, Oosterwyk said.
He said he tells people to watch what they put into their garbage, especially food and to try to keep lids on the cans tightly. Birdfeeders are really popular with bears; a good portion of calls to the department this time of year involves bears with the need for seed, according to Oosterwyk.
Theyll just go down the line from one house to another, he said, adding some good advice. If you see a bear in the area, take your bird feeders down. They [birds] dont need to be fed this time of year. Let em work for a living for a while.
A Marysville native, he said its not uncommon to hear of bears and cougars in the area, and May was when the Mill Creek office of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department got the most calls. There are lots of greenbelts in the area around Quilceda Creek and several culverts under roads allow animals to thread their way around busy roads. Bears tagged with transmitters have been traced all the way to urbanized areas such as Bellevue and Edmonds.
The telemetry shows they really get around, he joked.
Bears dont have the strict territories that cougars have the cats will kill to defend their turf, according to Oosterwyk. Bears like to be near water and dense cover and the buffer zones around creeks and rivers are a boon to their existence. The Mill Creek office got a call that a sow and two cubs were sighted near Gleneagle in Arlington, but the caller didnt leave a name or any other information. Three years ago a bear was shot near SR 9 at Sisco Heights, Oosterwyk said. In 31 years at his job hes only heard of one injury to a human by a bear.
They are not in the business of going after kids, Oosterwyk said.
Most animals will simply move on in search of an easy meal and thats what he tells people. One caller had been feeding raccoons for 15 years and complained when there were 28 living in her tree. Then she wanted Fish and Wildlife to remove some of them., he recalled.
If people want to keep em around, well OK, Oosterwyk said; if not, dry up the food source, he advised.
Thats the plan, according to Price, who said her husband is going to get some bear pepper spray from a sporting goods store.
Im a little more cautious in the yard now, Price said.