Two bears euthanized

The black bear responsible for injurying Washington camper has been euthanized

A bear that injured a Washington man was trapped and euthanized on Thursday according to Jeffrey Darrah, Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Captain for region two. The female black bear bit through the side of a tent last Monday, June 14, at a campsite just southwest of St. Regis.

Rob Holmes, of Ellensburg, was awakened from his sleep at around 4:30 a.m. when he felt the animal bite his ear from outside the tent. The animal was not seen. Rather investigators were able to inspect bite marks in the tent and matched them to similar founds at a nearby abandoned site. Twenty-one stitches were required to close the injury to Holmes' ear.

Darrah said that they set the trap at a campsite nearby Homes' that had previously been abandoned.

"We set the trap at the campsite where the bear had gotten into the garbage and at the site previously abandoned by another camper," Darrah said. "We caught her and her cub was also up a tree nearby."

Darrah said that they also euthanized the cub because as it would no longer have its mother to provide care it wouldn't have survived.

"Sadly, we had to put the both down," Darrah said.

Darrah said that the mother bear had previously been known to go down into areas with people. Darrah said that FWP had received many reports from several residences in the area that they had seen a bear in the area. Darrah said that the black bear had also been down to one residence where she tore the cover off of a hot tub and chewed on it.

"It had become fairly obvious this bear was becoming habituated to being around humans and scoring easy handouts," Darrah said. "Both the mother and the cub had shown bad behavior."

Darrah said that they have sent samples from the mother black bear to determine whether or not that she has rabies so that they can let Holmes know.

The bears were removed from the area so they wouldn't pose any risk to any future campers. Prior to having the bear removed, the campground, located about two miles up Little Joe Road, was closed. Darrah had said previously that Holmes had done everything correctly, but it was the food up at another abandoned campsite that drew the bear in.

"He (Holmes) kept a clean camp and did not place himself at risk. Unfortunately," Darrah said, "food and other attractants that were abandoned at another nearby camp likely drew the bear in."