The city of Issaquah deserves high marks and praise for including bear resistant containers as part of their contract negotiaions for selecting a waste management company. Effective July 1, 2012 CleanScapes will offer Issaquah residents the BearSaver toters for garbage, compost/yard waste and recycling. Read more.
Agencies
First time “hard release” of a cougar in Washington
A 140-pound male cougar was too close for comfort, hanging around homes and a school near Enumclaw. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife trapped the animal and then “hard released” the cougar using Karelian Bear Dogs and shooting bean bags to scare the animal away so it won’t return to the neighborhood. Fish and Wildlife officers fitted the cougar with a radio collar which will monitor its whereabouts.
There are approximately 2,000 cougars in Washington State. To learn more about cougars and co-existing with them visit GBOP’s website
Fifth Washington Wolf Pack Confirmed
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Press Release:
July 22, 2011
Contact: Harriet Allen, (360) 902-2694
State’s fifth wolf pack confirmed in Stevens County
OLYMPIA—Washington’s fifth gray wolf pack has been confirmed in northeast Stevens County.
Earlier this month, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologists caught, marked with an ear tag and released a 2-month-old wolf pup from the pack. Biologists have since been trying to capture one of the pack’s breeding adult wolves to radio-collar it for monitoring. The effort to document the pack began after local ranchers reported observing three wolf pups and hearing howling in late June.
The pack is believed to include a breeding-age male and female and at least three pups. The group has been named the Smackout Pack, in reference to geographic features in the area.
The Lookout Pack, confirmed in Okanogan and Chelan counties in 2008, was Washington’s first documented resident gray wolf pack since a breeding population of wolves was extirpated from the state in the 1930s. Two more packs have been documented in Pend Oreille County—the Diamond Pack was confirmed in 2009, and the Salmo Pack was confirmed in 2010.
Last month, the state’s fourth documented pack—dubbed the Teanaway Pack— was confirmed in Kittitas County. DNA analysis of that pack’s adult female wolf indicated she is likely a recent descendant of the Lookout Pack.
The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is protected throughout Washington as a state endangered species. In the western two-thirds of Washington, the species is also federally protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). It is illegal to harm or harass a federal- or state-protected endangered species.
WDFW has been working since 2007 to develop a wolf conservation and management plan in anticipation of wolves re-entering Washington from other states or Canada.
A Final EIS/recommended plan—which was developed with a 17-member citizen group and included extensive public review and scientific peer review—will be presented to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in a special public meeting Aug. 4 in Olympia. Additional public workshops on the proposed plan are scheduled later this summer and in the fall.
“Wolves are re-establishing here on their own,” said Nate Pamplin, who heads WDFW’s Wildlife Program. “The confirmation of additional breeding wolf packs moves us closer to achieving a sustainable population, and also highlights the need to finalize a state wolf plan that sets recovery targets and management tools to address livestock and ungulate conflicts.”
More information on the draft plan and all Washington wolf packs.
Wolf sightings or activity should be reported through the joint federal-state toll-free wolf reporting hotline at 1(888) 584-9038. Joint federal-state Wolf Response Guidelines, including agency staff contact information, are available at here.
White family charged with killing up to five gray wolves
Bill and Tom White are alleged to have killed a total of five endangered gray wolves on or near their Twisp, Washington property in the area that the Lookout Pack had established residence.
One of the wolves shot by the Whites in 2008 was skinned and the hide attempted to be smuggled to Canada for processing. The package was intercepted when it started leaking blood at the FedEx office in Omak. This incident kicked off the federal investigation into the Whites, whose homes were searched by state and federal agents.
The U.S. District Court in Spokane indicted Bill White, his son Tom White and Tom’s wife, Erin White with conspiracy to take an endangered species, punishable by up to one year in prison and up to $100,000 in fines, and smuggling a wolf hide out of the country, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines.
The Lookout Pack is the first pack of gray wolves confirmed in Washington in more than 70 years. In July 2008 there were as many as nine animals in eastern Washington, but state wildlife officials fear that because of poachers as few as two animals have survived.
Read more about the killing of gray wolves in Methow Valley.
To learn more about gray wolves visit GBOP’s website
Sow and two juveniles seek refuge in a cedar tree
This past Saturday a resident form Sammamish notified me of three bears hanging out in her neighbor’s tree. I quickly turned my car around and headed to her house. When I arrived, there were five people in the street, heads up, staring at a 70 foot cedar tree. I knew the bears had to be in that tree, but they were barely visible. Soon my eyes picked out the three black spots hidden in the branches. The resident who called me explained that the bears broke into her neighbor’s chicken coop and ate a few chicks. Fish and Wildlife was called to set a trap next to the chicken coop.
I found out the neighbor has lived in this Sammamish neighborhood for seven years and never saw bears until last year when construction began nearby on a new subdivision. She believes this same sow was spotted last summer rummaging through garbage and feeding on bird feeders. Following these incidents, the entire neighborhood worked together to remove attractants and keep garbage stored inside until the morning of garbage pick-up. Unfortunately, the allure of the chickens was too great for the sow to resist. I gave the neighbor information about electric fencing the coop and also reminded her to remove ripe or fallen fruit from her apple trees.
For more tips on coexisting with bears visit GBOP’s website.