Black bear tranquilized and transported out of West Bremerton

Published 1:04 pm Monday, June 8, 2009

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers tranquilized, captured and transported a black bear found in a cedar tree near Naval Avenue Elementary School shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday, June 7, according to a Bremerton Police Department (BPD) report.

BPD officers found the bear in a tree near the intersection of Seventh Street and Roosevelt Avenue after receiving a call around 5:40 a.m. that a bear had been sighted in the area. Officers secured the area and called the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife for assistance.

Sgt. Ted Jackson, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the 220-225 pound, 3- to 3 1/2-year-old male black bear likely came down from the Bremerton watershed.

“Naval Avenue is not that far a walk from the watershed,” Jackson said. “He probably came down through Pendergast Park.”

Calls have come in for bear sightings in the Poulsbo, Port Gamble and Long Lake areas in recent weeks, Jackson added, but this is the first for Bremerton.