Bears are no strangers to Renton and rarely, if ever, have they posed an overt threat to a human or property.

But there’s always that possibility – bears are, after all, wild animals.

Bears like their space and they don’t like getting cornered, especially up a tree, says Renton animal-control officer Dennis McAskill, who has been answering bear calls for about a decade in Renton.

“Trees are used as a defensive mechanism to get away from a threat,” said McAskill. They don’t live in trees, he said.

They won’t come down from the tree until that threat is gone, he said.

That’s exactly what happened Monday near Cougar Mountain, when a mother bear and her cub spent hours up a tree near 148th Avenue Southeast and May Valley Road.

Gathered below the tree and nearby were about 30 people, including children, McAskill estimated. Renton police were mainly called to help with crowd control, he said. A wildlife officer with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife was deciding how to deal with the bears.

McAskill likened the scene to a “carnival sideshow.”

As long as part of the crowd was at the bottom of the tree, the bears’ “ability to leave comfortably” was delayed, he said.

At about 6 p.m. Monday, the decision was made to tranquilize the cub with a dart to remove him from the tree. The cub fell, breaking its jaw.

The mother remained in the tree, about 60 feet up. She apparently came down overnight, after the crowd dispersed, but continued to be spotted in the neighborhood this week.

McAskill has some simple advice for people if they come upon a bear:

“If the bear is not being a threat to you, then leave it alone,” he said. The bulk of their diet is vegetation, he said.

Bears are a lot more common in Renton and its immediate outskirts than people may think, he said. It’s just that no one sees them.

Fall is a busy time for bears, he said, what he called their “time of plenty.” They are busy fattening up for the winter and a favorite food is an apple. There is an orchard near where the bears were treed.

“They are there for the meals,” McAskill said.

The worst-case scenario is that a “bear can run faster than you and knock you on your butt,” he said.

And don’t sneak up on a bear.

“They don’t like surprises,” he said.