Document text
0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: House stands in the way of transportation deal ... National Guardsmen return to praise and hugs in Medford ... Triple digit heat will stick around Rogue Valley for awhile ... Our View: House stands in the way of transportation deal ... National Guardsmen return to praise and hugs in Medford ... Triple digit heat will stick around Rogue Valley for awhile ... Medford police shoot bear near Jefferson Elementary Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Nov. 17, 2014 at 1:12 PM Updated Nov 17, 2014 at 5:03 PM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Nov. 17, 2014 at 1:12 PM Updated Nov 17, 2014 at 5:03 PM » Social News An old black bear given a one-day chance to leave a southwest Medford neighborhood on its own was shot and killed by police Monday morning near a school because it was deemed a public-safety threat. It was the second bear this fall killed by police near grade schools in west Medford in what state wildlife biologists say is a busy year for local nuisance bears. Medford police shot a black bear under similar circumstances Sept. 25 near Washington Elementary School off Peach Street. The latest bear was discovered about 7 a.m. Sunday when Louise Abel's neighbor knocked on her door to tell her there was a bear high in a pine tree in her backyard in the 1500 block of Jasper Street. Abel called Medford police, who, after consulting with Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division troopers, decided to back off and keep the area clear in hopes the bear would wander away on its own, police said. "I opened up my gates and turned the back light off," Abel said. The 180-pound female bear instead climbed down the tree and bedded down in backyard brush about 50 yards from a popular walking route to nearby Jefferson Elementary School, police said. The sow was discovered there by an officer at 4:30 a.m. Monday. After consultation with OSP troopers and an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, police considered the bear's proximity to school too risky to leave there, police said. A Medford police sergeant shot and killed the bear at 5:30 a.m., and the carcass was given to ODFW biologists who will donate the meat to charity, police said. "The police were amazing," Abel said. "They really didn't want to shoot it." Law enforcement officials have the discretion to shoot wildlife in city limits if the animal is deemed a threat, Vargas said.  "Their call was fine," Vargas said. "I have no issues with the public-safety call they made." Bears wandering into city limits is a rather common occurrence in Southern Oregon, often with the bears coming and going without anyone noticing. Those that stick around often end up with death sentences because tranquilizing and relocating bears has a poor track record, Vargas said. Relocated bears often exhibit the same behavior in their new haunts, so it just shifts any conflict from one community to another, he said. Or, the bears turn around and come back. The last time Vargas attempted to trap and relocate an urban bear was in 2009, when a young bear was discovered in a tree at the playground of Medford's Lone Pine Elementary School just as kids entered their classrooms. That bear was tranquilized and trucked to far northeastern Klamath County. It then covered 78 air miles over the Cascade Mountains in 10 days before it was shot legally by a hunter about 1.5 miles from the east Medford school.  "When we get the urban bears that are habituated to people, they come back," Vargas said. "There's no way around it. They come back." Generally only injured or completely wayward cubs — like the one found last month wandering the aisles of a Rite Aid store in Ashland — are candidates for tranquilizing and relocating to zoos or other centers, Vargas said. Vargas said the bear shot Monday was an old female that could be as much as 10 years old based on how worn her teeth were. The female was not lactating, so it did not have any cubs, Vargas said. It also had healthy amounts of fat, he said. Abel said the bear could have been in her yard as early as Friday evening, when her normally night-roving cat Xeno refused to go outside. "The cat must have sensed it because he was pretty nervous," she said. The bear could have followed irrigation canals into town, then wandered down an alley that stops near Abel's back fence. Vargas said it is less than one aerial mile from the Pioneer Road area that is very bear-rich. Southern Oregon has some of the country's highest black bear densities and human interactions with them are cyclic. This year seems to be a busy one, with nuisance complaints up, hunter-killed numbers high and a dozen road-killed bears, Vargas said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Nov. 17, 2014 at 1:12 PM Updated Nov 17, 2014 at 5:03 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... Business Name address Location, ST | website.com Find Southern Oregon Attractions Bars Restaurants Beauty Salons Entertainment Doctors Medical Specialists Contractors Education Lawn Services Lawyers Shopping Travel Tanning Used Cars Wedding Services ▼ Add your business here + Events Calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. MailTribune.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501