Oregon Public Broadcasting

Wildlife agents around the Northwest are fielding more bear complaints than usual this month.  Correspondent Tom Banse reports on why bears are raiding bird feeders and garbage cans in high summer.

Spring is when bears come out of hibernation hungry. That’s when you should see a lot of complaint calls.  But this year, the calls to fish and wildlife keep coming.

Jeff Boechler: “Complaints are up right now.”

Jeff Boechler works in the Clackamas office of Oregon Fish and Wildlife.  It’s the same story in the Corvallis district, in north Central Washington and northwest Washington.

Jeff Boechler: “I think what we’ve got is with the later spring/winter that we experienced this year, the onset or the production of a lot of the natural food crops -- particularly berries -- appears to be delayed.”

In the meantime, Boechler says bears are trying to find whatever food they can.  Dog food, bird seed, garbage, or barbeque leftovers could bring an unexpected visitor.

Jeff Boechler: “For the most part, just through removing attractants we usually don’t have to get to the point of actually trapping bears.”