Dangerous Wildlife Complaints:
Human conflicts with dangerous wildlife and WDFW Enforcement Program response

With human populations continuing to expand into traditional black bear and cougar habitat, combined with an increased bear and cougar population, human conflicts with wildlife are inevitable.  When human conflicts occur, citizens regularly call WDFW offices seeking assistance.

Conflicts between people and cougars and bears are increasing dramatically.  The number of confirmed cougar and black bear complaints reported to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife by the public has increased by 31% since 2003.  WDFW received 382 confirmed cougar and 448 confirmed bear complaints in 2005.  With the complaints come more property damage, livestock, and pet killings and human safety issues.

WDFW enforcement program is responsible for responding and assisting the public regarding solutions to human/dangerous wildlife complaints.

WDFW policy directs agency employees to respond within certain time frames and with certain responses depending on the urgency of the incident.  The following is a summary of WDFW agency policy regarding response to dangerous wildlife complaints:

Cougar and or Black Bear attacks on humans:

WDFW response:

Cougar and or Black Bear behavior that constitute an Urgent Human Safety Concern:

WDFW response:

Cougar and or Black Bear depredation on livestock resulting in loss:

WDFW response:

Cougar and/or Black Bear behavior constituting a potential livestock depredation or potential human safety concern:

WDFW response:

Cougar and Black Bear behavior that constitutes a nuisance to the complaining citizen:

WDFW response:

Typical Causes Resulting in Problem Black Bear Complaints:

• Failure to secure and manage garbage in a manner that will not attract wildlife.
• Failure to remove and/or manage articles (barbeques, fallen fruit, pet food, bee hives, bird feeders, etc.) which produce odors that attract wildlife.
• Well-meaning people who feed wildlife causing wild animals to loose their fear of humans.  Once animals loose their instinctive fear of humans, particularly black bear, they become increasingly more aggressive, develop into a human safety concern, and often have to be destroyed.

Typical Causes Resulting in Problem Cougar Complaints:

• Unrestrained livestock and pets, particularly during the hours of darkness, in traditional cougar habitat.
• Failure to remove and /or properly manage pet food or pet feeding practices.  Proper pet food feeding practices would include feeding pets inside, and not leaving uneaten pet food out of doors that may emit odors attracting unwanted wildlife.

COUGAR AND BEAR COMPLAINTS – STATEWIDE
Region	Total Cougar Complaints		Confirmed Cougar Complaints/ % Confirmed		Unconfirmed Cougar Complaints		Total Bear Complaints		Confirmed Bear Complaints/ % Confirmed		Unconfirmed Bear Complaints
Years	2005	2006	2005	2006	2005	2006	2005	2006	2005	2006	2005	2006
Spokane	176	161	88/50%	92/57%	88	69	87	156	65/75%	42/27%	22	114
Ephrata	112	100	75/67%	67/67%	37	33	57	66	53/93%	62/94%	4	4
Yakima	37	43	17/49%	27/63%	20	16	1	9	1/100%	9/100%	0	0
Mill Creek	184	146	91/49%	53/36%	93	93	230	314	174/76%	162/52%	56	152
Vancouver	152	111	61/40%	46/41%	91	65	73	48	49/67%	28/58%	24	20
Montesano	123	92	50/41%	35/38%	73	57	124	160	106/85%	123/77%	18	37
Total	784	653	382	320	402	333	572	723	448	426	124	327
% Change	-17%		-16%		-17%		26%		-5%		164%