EUGENE, Ore. — The bears are out in Lane County, which is no longer a surprise to Renee Hansen. After her Honda Accord slammed into one south of Eugene last week, she’s decided to buy an SUV for peace of mind.
A wildlife biologist says black bears have been feasting on abundant new grass in the hills of the south Willamette Valley, but it’s started to go to seed. So the bears are coming downhill in search of new food sources.
That brings them to roadways such as the Lorane Highway neighborhood southwest of Eugene where Hansen’s family has lived for 30 years without seeing a bear — until Friday.
“I didn’t even have time to tense up or touch my brakes,” Hansen told the Register-Guard. “He came out of nowhere.”
Hansen escaped serious injury. The air bag activated, knocking the wind out of her and burning her hand. The car’s front end was crushed, and the damage was estimated at $9,000.
The bear died. State Trooper Ed Imholt said it was a large bear but couldn’t estimate its weight. He said it “might have gotten spooked by something” before it bolted across the road.
State wildlife biologist Brian Wolfer says each year brings one or two such collisions between bears and motor vehicles in Lane County.
Bears have been reported pawing at garbage cans and beehives in the area. A few hours before the crash, the State Police searched in vain for a different bear wandering through neighborhoods in west Eugene.
Besides looking for new food sources, Wolfer said, bears are up and around now for other reasons: Sows typically kick loose their yearlings to fend for themselves, and boars are looking for mates.
Bear contact typically dwindles by July when wild berries ripen, and attacks on humans are rare, wildlife officials say.
Oregon is home to an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 black bears, found in many of the mountain ranges.
Early Tuesday morning, a man shot and killed a 350-pound bear that he said had tried to attack his dogs and turned toward him “in an aggressive manner” outside his home in the Round Lake area west of Klamath Falls, state police said.
State law allows landowners to use deadly force in those circumstances, police said.
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