Bears are causing safety concern in Florence
Florence - A school is on one side a neighborhood on the other. Right in the middle sits the den of four bears creating a major safety concern.
We've shown you bears on the coast a couple of times this year. Oregon Wildlife officials say this is one of their worst years for bear problems. And it's all because people are feeding them.
"So this is where the kids were all playing yesterday," says Doug Cottam with ODFW. About 90 feet from where Siuslaw Elementary students play a rare find.
"This is the first one in 14 years I have ever found or heard about here in town," says Cottam. Cottam takes us through the drainage system, to the mouth of a bear's den. "This one goes back at least 12 feet. And you can see right there are the bear prints," shows Cottam.
Not for just one bear but a sow and her three cubs. "The bears were here yesterday," says Cottam.
Cottam say's they're showing up because people are feeding them. And that's creating a problem. On Tuesday a cub was shot after breaking into a home and Cottam believes the others were there too.
"It's very likely they all have that behavior in them," he says. Which is why Cottam say's they set a trap and caught a second cub who was seen running across this playground.
"That bear was was subsequently caught late last night in the trap it was euthanized there," he explains.
For safety precautions school district officials have decided to put up a 2,000 foot long chain link fence that will run all the way around this playground.
So for now recess and p.e. are inside. "We're taking extra precautions they haven't said you need to get kids off there we just think it's prudent," says George Winterscheid, Superintendent of the Siuslaw School District.
And Cottam say's all of this could have been avoided if people just didn't feed the bears. "A fed bear is dead bear this is proof it does happen it happens frequently and it disrupts neighborhoods," says Cottam.
Wildlife officials hope to trap and remove the last two bears. District officials are holding a meeting for parents at the elementary school tonight at 6:30.
We've shown you bears on the coast a couple of times this year. Oregon Wildlife officials say this is one of their worst years for bear problems. And it's all because people are feeding them.
"So this is where the kids were all playing yesterday," says Doug Cottam with ODFW. About 90 feet from where Siuslaw Elementary students play a rare find.
"This is the first one in 14 years I have ever found or heard about here in town," says Cottam. Cottam takes us through the drainage system, to the mouth of a bear's den. "This one goes back at least 12 feet. And you can see right there are the bear prints," shows Cottam.
Not for just one bear but a sow and her three cubs. "The bears were here yesterday," says Cottam.
Cottam say's they're showing up because people are feeding them. And that's creating a problem. On Tuesday a cub was shot after breaking into a home and Cottam believes the others were there too.
"It's very likely they all have that behavior in them," he says. Which is why Cottam say's they set a trap and caught a second cub who was seen running across this playground.
"That bear was was subsequently caught late last night in the trap it was euthanized there," he explains.
For safety precautions school district officials have decided to put up a 2,000 foot long chain link fence that will run all the way around this playground.
So for now recess and p.e. are inside. "We're taking extra precautions they haven't said you need to get kids off there we just think it's prudent," says George Winterscheid, Superintendent of the Siuslaw School District.
And Cottam say's all of this could have been avoided if people just didn't feed the bears. "A fed bear is dead bear this is proof it does happen it happens frequently and it disrupts neighborhoods," says Cottam.
Wildlife officials hope to trap and remove the last two bears. District officials are holding a meeting for parents at the elementary school tonight at 6:30.
