Why are we seeing more black bears in King County these days?

It's that time of year when black bears are wandering into local neighborhoods looking for food and water.

Some have recently set their sights on backyard animals, adding to the recent uptick in bear activity around King County.

In late June, a bear killed and ate a goat that was kept in the Bridle Trails neighborhood in Bellevue. Cpt. Jennifer Maurstad with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife told KUOW's Angela King that a pet rabbit and some chickens have also been killed in the area recently.

This may seem unusual, but Maurstad said it's really not.

"We're definitely no stranger to bear sightings and bear encounters throughout Washington state and, specifically, in King County where there's several if not hundreds of sightings every year," she said. "This is the time of year when bears are out and about, and their number one goal is looking for food."

They're not exactly picky.

Anything from garbage and compost to bird feeders and, yes, pets could attract them, especially if they've found food in an area before.

"They have really long memories," Maurstad said. "If they found a food source somewhere last year, they're going to go back this year."

The best thing people can do to prevent unwanted visitors is to put those food sources away, bring pets inside, and protect farm animals with electric fencing.

Maurstad said there hasn't exactly been an uptick in bear encounters recently, though there have been more sightings. That's not because of an increase in activity or bear population, though — it's more likely because of the rising human population.

"A lot of it is there's just more cameras and more people," she said. "Just about everybody has some type of a camera on their house."

"A lot of people are working from home. Obviously, there are just more people in our state in general. And that is what leads to more sightings."

Still, she said we can "live harmoniously" by putting away food and animals and let bears be bears.