Bears get comfortable, make others less so

ODFW: Urban issues complicate wildlife management

By Alan Panebaker
Ashland Daily Tidings

A cinnamon-colored bear has drawn the attention of locals recently. John Darling | Daily Tidings

More bears appear to be creeping into Ashland, but it’s unclear whether the increased sightings are signs of a real problem.

Friday night, an Ashland man found a black bear eating a fawn in his back yard on Oregon Street. Sunday, a group of people watched a local black bear running around Lithia Park, and Monday local Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials got a call about a bear on Courtney Street.

One small, cinnamon-colored bear has raised interest and trash can lids in Lithia Park for a few weeks now, and although bear sightings are common in the area, local officials think this bruin’s repeated garbage-eating offenses could prove fatal.

“It’s just a matter of time before it becomes aggressive,” Ashland Parks and Recreation Director Don Robertson said.

Beyond the small bear in Lithia Park, photos of the bear on Oregon Street appear to showcase a larger, darker bear. This bear was seen eating natural prey instead of human trash — which many say is a positive sign. Most trash cans in Lithia Park are still gone in attempts to dissuade the bear from eating trash, but incidents are common each week.

The problem with bears in Ashland, according to wildlife damage biologist Rosemary Stussy, is that it complicates the way authorities can deal with problem animals.

An Ashland resident on Oregon Street found a dark-colored bear in his tree, eating the remains of a fawn. Jeff Stewart | For the Tidings

“The whole urban setting adds a kink into wildlife management,” Stussy said.

The fact that the Medford branch of ODFW doesn’t have a live trap to relocate bears, makes proper trash removal and discouraging techniques the only way to really deal with the animals. Euthanasia is the final option for problem bears, but in four years, Stussy said she never had to euthanize one. She said late awakenings from hibernation and irregularities in bear’s normal food supply may have caused a few more critters to come into the urban interface this year, but hopefully that will change as more berries flourish in the coming weeks.

For now, bears in Lithia Park and the Ashland hills should be safe from humans if they stay non-aggressive.

ODFW officials say they can’t tell if the amount of bears getting into people’s homes will become a problem because people hardly report sightings to authorities, so they have no way of gauging the seriousness of the problem until it is too late.

“This year it just exploded on us,” Stussy said.

To report a bear in the town of Ashland, call ODFW at 826-8774.

Staff writer Alan Panebaker can be reached at 482-3456 x 227 or apanebaker@dailytidings.com.

.