WILDLIFE -- A black bear that has been causing problems from patios and garbage bins to chicken coops in the Five Mile Area was killed by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers today, April 27.

The young bear was killed with the help of houndsmen in a six-hour mission -- the third attempt in a week.

"It had been causing a lot of problems for quite a while and we've been trying to catch it since about April 10," said  Capt. Dan Rahn, the department's head enforcement official in Spokane.

The bear had evaded traps and would not go up a tree when tracked by hounds, making it a difficult task to capture the animal and reducing the options officials had for dealing with the nuisance bear, he said.

Safety to the public is a key factor in when, where and how wildlife officers ultimately deal with a large potentially dangerous problem animal, whether it's a bear or a moose.

"We had an opportunity to euthanize it today, so we took it," Rahn said.