Photo by Alan Bauer

Avoid drawing bears with bird feeders

Black bears have become notorious raiders of backyard bird feeding stations in Washington, especially where both people and bears are most dense.

The suburban areas of the north Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula regions of the state have the most chronic black bear problems of this nature. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) offices there advise holding off on feeding birds until November, when most bears den up for much of the winter.

“It’s become quite a problem for us,” said WDFW wildlife biologist Patricia Thompson of the Mill Creek office. “Bears are hungry at this time of year and are looking for easy meals to fatten up before winter. When a bear becomes conditioned to food like that near humans, it can be dangerous. Our enforcement officers attempt to capture and relocate bears, but too often there’s nowhere to safely release a conditioned, problem animal. Unfortunately we sometimes end up euthanizing bears in those situations.”

Thompson said bird feeding enthusiasts can help by simply waiting until November to fill feeders, keeping spilled feed cleaned up, and cutting off the feed supply by March when more bears are out and about again.

Black bears are prolific in forested habitat across the state, including the northcentral Cascade Mountains, the northeast Selkirk Mountains, and the southeast Blue Mountains. They have always caused some problems for livestock and people in rural areas, from Chelan County to Asotin County.

But this year’s extremely warm and dry conditions have left bears wanting for natural food sources – berries, wild fruit, nuts, grasses, insects and small animals. Being omnivores (they’ll eat just about anything), and having extremely keen noses, they have been scavenging for food in garbage cans, livestock or pet food dispensers, chicken coops, gardens, campgrounds, and other places with easy meals.

“This year in particular everyone needs to be careful about drawing black bears with any kind of food source,” Thompson said.

For more information about black bears, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/bears.htm.