Posted on Apr 16th, 2012
UPDATE - Wednesday evening, May 3, 2012
A bear was spotted in the driveway of a home on 54th. It's unknown if it was the tagged/relocated bear from April 22.
It is imperative that we keep our garbage cans in the garage and put out garbage cans only on Thursday morning, if at all possible. Putting cans out Wednesday night is bear's delicatessen. If you must put your cans out prior to Thursday morning, please take the precautions that Fish & Wildlife suggest. See the links below.
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It's spring time and the bears are visiting Overdale again. The bears have been sighted in the morning, the afternoon and the evening on garbage days and non-garbage days because they are finding plenty of food sources in Overdale.
Please participate in making Overdale inhospitable to bears.
- Keep garbage/yardwaste/compost in your garage.
- Bring in all bird feeders.
- Do not feed wildlife of any type.
- For garbage day, put out your garbage cans in the morning rather than the night before. If this is a hardship, secure your garbage container lids with bungee cords.
Bear Encounter, Trap & Relocation
On Sunday, April 15, a bear (photo below) showed no fear of barking dogs, yelling rock-throwing residents or a car horn as he visited at least three homes on 231st. At two of the homes, he found garbage cans easily accessible in the driveway. WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and Issaquah Police responded to the bear confrontation and urge all neighbors to be alert to this bear (estimated at 150-180lbs.) This bear is believed to be the cub of a mother bear and sister captured in our area in 2011.
On the weekend of April 21st, a bear (believed to be the one in the April 15 incident) was trapped near Overdale, tagged and relocated to the mountains. WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife hope this bear does not return to our area but caution that bears have been known to return to areas within a week of a relocation. In addition, there are 40-50 bears on the Sammamish Plateau so even without this bear returning, another bear could begin to visit Overdale if residents are not vigilant about keeping garbage cans inside the garage. Birdfeeders should also not be used this time of year as there is plenty of food for the birds in our natural habitat. Bears love birdseed. To protect the members of our community, please do your part to comply with the garbage requests from the authorities.
Report Bear Sightings
If you see any other bear causing a nuisance, please report the sighting date/time, the location and what the bear was doing.
- If safety is at risk, call 911.
- To report a sighting, call WA Dept of Fish and Wildlife 425 775-1311. If you reach WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife after hours (M-F 8AM-5PM), leave a descriptive message on their voicemail along with your name and phone number.
- WA State Patrol dispatch is another reporting source, 425 957-2335.
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