Second black bear in a week removed from Five Mile area

WILDLIFE — A young black bear was captured in the Five Mile Area of Spokane Saturday, less than a week after a nuisance bear was killed by wildlife officials to protect the neighborhood.

After receiving complaints for homeowners, the second black bear was removed from the same area over the weekend and relocated to southern Pend Oreille County, said Madonna Luers, department spokeswoman.

Officer Mike Sprecher received a call about the second bear on Friday, May 1, and set a live barrel trap in the Lloyd Charles neighborhood on Saturday. By  about 8:15 p.m. Saturday that bear, estimated to be about the same age but slightly smaller than the first bear, was in the trap and on its way to a remote release site, Luers said.

On April 27, a particularly troublesome bear was shot and killed in the Five Mile-Waikiki area by wildlife officers after more than two weeks of attempts to live-trap or tree the animal with with hounds so it could be tranquilized and relocated.

The second bear’s willingness to be trapped gives it a second chance at being wild.

Two questions:

• Has the bear been habituated to human food to the point that it will become a problem to someone else?
• Is somebody in the Five Mile area continuing in to feed wildlife or leave out garbage in a way that’s attracting bears?

Maybe that leads to a third question:

• Is it time to ding the bell of people clueless about living with wildlife and saddle them with the cost of tranquilizing and relocating bears that become a problem because of human negligence?