Another school on lockdown...

ISSAQUAH, Wash. —An Issaquah elementary school was locked down Wednesday morning after a bear and her cubs were spotted on the front lawn of the campus, the Issaquah Schools Facebook page said.


Principal Diane Holt said the incident was a good chance to practice the school's lockdown procedures.

“Everyone did a great job. Teachers did a great job. Staff did a great job. We got everybody fed and at recess. Got them a 20 minute recess and we still got them home,” said Holt.

Fish and Wildlife officers with a Carillion bear dog searched for the bears, but they were not found.

After officials were certain the bears had left the area, the school returned to its normal activities.

The school is about a block away from Issaquah Creek, which has plentiful salmon at this time of year, but it is not common for bears to wander onto school grounds.


http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/bear-family-caught-on-camera/nSZRY/

I'm just impressed with the Carillion (Google spells it Karelian ) bear dog. I can't believe that little farker fights bears and wolves.

Around here they use them to just scare off the bears, along with bean bag shots. Usually that's enough to convince a bear to leave the city area for good.

What kind of bear is the most predominant up there? Grizzly?

Around here it's mostly black bears. There are Grizzlies in WA state but they tend to stay at higher elevations and it's very rare for someone to see a Grizzly.

it's very rare for someone to see a Grizzly..........

Ahhh...that's what we have here in FL too. There have actually been an abnormal amount of encounters reported in the news this year in northern Orlando areas. They believe the bears are coming from the Ocala National forest, but they are still uncertain why the bears are traveling the 100+ miles to get here. One even made it about 3-4 blocks from downtown....and it's pretty much all developed area for at least 30+ blocks outward radius.

.........and live to tell the story.

At nearly 10,000 square miles, the North Cascades Ecosystem is the second largest of six official grizzly bear recovery zones designated by the federal government and the only one outside of the Rocky Mountains.

Joe Sebille was hiking in October of 2010 when he encountered the bear feeding on a steep slope in the Upper Cascade River watershed. He watched the animal for a while, then snapped some pictures and left the area.

Sebille knew the bear didn't look like the black bears he had seen but didn't realize he had seen a grizzly bear or that the sighting was unusual until he began discussing the encounter with friends and sharing his photographs.

This is the first Class 1 report of a grizzly bear in the North Cascades ecosystem since 1996. Class 1 reports are considered verified sightings of a species that include physical evidence such as tracks or a photograph of the animal with a geographically-verifiable background.

Grizzly bears in the North Cascades are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act and by State law. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) believes there are fewer than 20 grizzlies in the U. S. portion of the North Cascades, with perhaps that many more in the adjoining Canadian portion of the ecosystem.

That lockdown must have been unbearable for the students.

A grizzly situation for sure.

MLV is going to get fired.

That lockdown must have been unbearable for the students.

Or the polar opposite and get promoted.