Bears are irking east Washougal homeowners who live inside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is fielding complaints from people who reported bears rummaging through their trash, according to enforcement Officer David Hughes.
“It’s pretty common this time of year, especially in that area,” he said.
Hughes spoke with Barb Taylor at her home on Southeast Hidden Falls Road. She said that on several occasions black bears tipped over her dumpster and spewed trash around the yard. She and her husband tried putting a bar over the dumpster, but the bears bent the lid back. Then they used a chain lock, and now they’ve upgraded to a bigger lock with a steel plate on top of one of the lids. If the problem persists, Taylor said she might build fencing around the dumpster.
The activity was captured on a game camera that Taylor installed in mid-May, after the bears first started visiting her property.
The bears have been a nuisance for Taylor’s neighbors, as well, and reportedly destroyed someone’s shed.