If you live in the Cascade area of Snoqualmie [Ridge], you may want to avoid putting your garbage and recycling cans curbside until the actual morning of garbage pick up – because it appears there’s a pretty large, and presumably hungry, black bear back in the area.
The large bear was spotted Wednesday night, August 24, 2016 on Cascade Ave, knocking over garbage cans placed curbside for the neighborhood’s Thursday morning garbage pickup.
Bear Hot Spot over the Years
Cascade Ave, which runs adjacent to the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge golf course, is no stranger to bears. Over the years, bears have been known to access the street via the golf course, as well as numerous other Snoqualmie Ridge streets that line the course.
According to social media posts, though, this bear might be one of the bigger bears spotted by residents over the years.
Reminder: Garbage is a huge attractant for bears – and bears have great memories. That means there’s a good chance this big bear might be back next week for another Wednesday night meal if containers are curbside early again.
Reminder #2: Two years ago the City of Snoqualmie also passed a garbage ordinance in an attempt to deter bears from local neighborhoods. The new law makes it a misdemeanor civil infraction if residents unintentionally feed wildlife through garbage negligence.
Per the Snoqualmie garbage ordinance, residents are also subject to a tougher misdemeanor charge after being issued an infraction for negligent feeding wildlife or having been notified in writing by the public works director to use a Wildlife-Resistant Garbage Can.
For Snoqualmie residents, putting garbage cans out the night before your collection day is something that can be construed as “negligently feed wildlife by allowing wildlife access to garbage containers” – if bears continually get into that garbage.
Reminder #3: Bear-resistant containers are also available from Waste Management…. and they do work. We have bear-resistant garbage and yard waste cans. Bears climbed our fence and tried twice to get into the cans. They were unsuccessful and we haven’t had them re-visit in over a year.
For more information on living with black bears visit the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Comments
Keeping garbage cans in until the morning is the best discouragement tactic for bears. It’s easy to do and really helps keep the bears out of trouble by removing temptation. It’s actually possible for humans and bears to live in proximity without drama. For 14 years, we’ve been here in the forest between the Ridge and I-90 with bear, bobcat, raccoon, coyote, and human neighbors. The only dramas we witness seem to be caused by, well, you can probably guess which type of neighbors!