Seattle bear slips away again

SEATTLE - A black bear that wildlife officials thought was cornered in a Shoreline park Monday afternoon is on the loose again.

Wildlife officers have been chasing the bear since the early morning hours when it was spotted in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood.

The bear was first spotted in the area at about 1:15 a.m. Police and Department of Fish and Wildlife crews tried to catch the bear but it proved to be too elusive. Officials say the animal went up a tree at one point and also jumped a fence.

An active search for the bear was called off at about 3:45 a.m., but Fish and Wildlife crews continued to monitor the neighborhood.

Officers believe it's the same bear that was spotted Saturday in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. At that time, the bear was seen near Discovery Park.

Albert Lee, a Magnolia resident, came face to face with the animal.

"A black bear jumped out over the edge of the flowers here and just lumped along and headed straight through to my neighbor's house," said Lee. He said he's never seen anything like it.

"My first impression was that's a mighty big black dog, I wonder what neighbor's dog (it is)... then it clicked in - look at the butt on that thing. That is a bear," Lee said. "Probably two, 250 pounds. Butt, body, head. Pretty straight forward. I saw enough of it to know that it was clearly not a dog."

Several people saw the bear jump a fence and into Twin Ponds Park in Shoreline around 2:30 p.m.

"He looked dead at us," said one resident.

Fish and Wildlife agents shut down the park briefly. A specially equipped King County helicopter scanned the park with a heat seeking camera, but officers quickly determined the bear had already moved on.

Wildlife agents are hoping to catch the bear before it gets into trouble. A bear that was spotted roaming around Seattle's University District in 2006 died after it was tazed to keep it from running away.

The Dept. of Fish and Wildlife hopes the bear is not hit by a car. The better scenario would be to have it jump into a yard with a dog inside. If the dog chases it up a tree, then that gives agents their best shot at tranquilizing it and getting it back out into the woods where it belongs.

Fish and Wildlife agents are now waiting for the next sighting. They say the bear is not a danger to people unless it is cornered. So if you see the bear, call 911.