PORT ANGELES — Every night since Christmas Eve, a black bear has wandered into Brad Burkett’s backyard.
The bear, which Burkett said is an anomaly for his backyard, appears to have an injured back leg.
“Every night, I’ve been making noise to scare it away,” he said.
Lives on creek
Burkett, who lives on a creek just off the intersection of Tumwater Truck Route and U.S. Highway 101, said he wanted others to know about the bear because he feared it could become aggressive.
State Department of Fish & Wildlife Officer Wynn Miller set up a trap for the bear Tuesday.
He said that seeing a bear in those parts isn’t necessarily unusual.
“We live in an area with lots of bears,” he said. “There are also lots of raccoons and cougars and deer.”
Many alert
Although some bears are hibernating at this point, many are alert during periods of the relatively warm winters of the North Olympic Peninsula.
“On the Peninsula, they tend to go in and out of hibernation,” he said. “It isn’t like Colorado or in Eastern Washington where it is really cold.
“They’ll come out and eat a little bit and go back.”
If the bear is injured, it might be in too much pain to sleep, Miller added.
Burkett said he first spotted the bear on his surveillance cameras in his backyard.
No trash outside
Although there are some apple trees nearby, he said, he does not keep trash outside.
“This is the first time in the two years that I’ve lived here that I’ve seen a bear here,” he said, adding that he’s lived in other areas of Port Angeles for 20 years.
Miller said he expects the trap to catch the bear easily, and then he will evaluate it for injuries.
If the wound is too severe to heal naturally in the wild, the bear could be killed, he said.
But if the wound could heal on its own — or if the bear is not injured at all — then the creature will be taken to a more remote area west of Port Angeles, Miller said.
No rehab
“We won’t rehab it,” he said.
“But I’ll assess if it is really bad if we catch it.
“The main thing is it was making him — and it makes us all — a little nervous when bears start coming around city limits, but he lives right on a creek, which is a perfect spot for this.
“I set up a trap, and we’ll see what happens.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.