A black bear was spotted in the middle of an Oak Harbor neighborhood Thursday night, according to Oak Harbor police.
A resident saw the animal on the 800 block of Southwest Erie Street, which is a residential area about two blocks north of Walmart. Capt. Tony Slowik with the Oak Harbor Police Department said the animal control officer investigated after the sighting was reported Friday morning and located paw prints and bear scat.
Residents, however, should not be alarmed, advised Ralph Downes, a state Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officer. The animal is likely just headed through the city and will soon to be gone. He said he would be more concerned about being bit by a neighbor’s pet than attacked by the bear, which has shown no signs of aggression. Of course, people should not approach the wild animal.
“If you see it, just enjoy it because we don’t get visitors that much on Whidbey Island,” he said.
Downes said the bear is likely the same young intrepid male that was first seen and photographed in the Strawberry Point area of North Whidbey on May 31. The bear then made its way south and a resident of the Hastie Lake area saw him going through garbage about two weeks ago.
Downes urges Oak Harbor residents to keep garbage and other possible food sources out of reach of the ursine visitor.
“Bears are notorious, whether real or in cartoons, for going after people’s trash,” he said, adding that it doesn’t pose a danger to pets and will likely be scared away by dogs.
Downes said it’s not unusual for a bear to travel through a city while exploring, likely looking for female companionship. The bear seems to be taking its time on Whidbey, at least in comparison to other bears that have visited the island in recent years.
“He’s a young male bear exploring. Presumably he will get bored at some point and depart,” Downes said.
In 2021, an older male, dubbed “Whidbey the Pooh” on social media, was seen on South and Central Whidbey in September 2021. In 2019, a bear made regional headlines after traveling through Whidbey and Anacortes before island hopping in the San Juans and finally making its way to the Home Depot in Burlington. It was caught and released back into nature.
