Bears that raided Index trash cans euthanized after backyard attack on leashed dog-walker

Two black bears — likely a mother and cub — were euthanized in Index, Washington, days after a black bear attacked a woman from behind while she walked her leashed dog in her own backyard along Index-Galena Road near U.S. Route 2. The woman was bitten and clawed on the ground just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, October 25, and was hospitalised with serious but non-life-threatening injuries; she was released on Tuesday.

The bear pursued her into her house, which let her call 911. Officers searched with dogs and set a trap after neighbours reported a large adult and younger bear in the area. On Tuesday they responded to reports of an adult and juvenile bear up a tree behind a business — roughly 20 minutes after a neighbour saw bears digging in trash cans. Both animals had garbage beneath the tree when officers arrived.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife cited state policy mandating lethal removal of bears involved in attacks on humans, and noted that bears habituated to non-natural food sources lose their fear of people and tend to return if moved, creating a continued threat of injury. Relocation of food-conditioned bears has a poor success record, so death is the rule rather than the exception.

Residents of Index had reported multiple recent encounters: bears within feet of porches, bears breaking into locked sheds, bears dragging garbage across lawns. Fall is the season when bears actively forage ahead of hibernation, and the department noted that food-conditioned animals become dangerous precisely because of human habits — unsecured trash, bird feeders, the slow accumulation of a free meal.

The euthanized bears will undergo disease testing. The department did not specify how many prior encounters residents had reported before the animals were shot.