One of essentially the most prolific thieves within the South Lake Tahoe, Calif., space was “safely immobilized” by tranquilizer dart and apprehended Friday morning, in line with state officers: a 400-pound black bear that the general public had come to know as Hank the Tank.
The captured bear was accountable for a minimum of 21 confirmed house break-ins and intensive property injury in Tahoe Keys courting again to early 2022, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife stated in a news launch. The bear might be transported to an animal sanctuary in Colorado this week.
Based on visible observations made by residents throughout a string of rummaging and ransacking incidents courting again to 2021, the general public initially thought “Hank the Tank” was one male bear. But the bear that was captured on Friday, a feminine identified to the state as 64F, is certainly one of three bears accountable for a number of the space break-ins that had been attributed to Hank.
“I guess they all technically are ‘Hank the Tank,’” Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the division, stated. She stated the “other Hanks” haven’t “presented themselves as problems” this 12 months in Tahoe Keys, a gated group about 190 miles northeast of San Francisco.
The feminine Hank, nonetheless, remained at-large — and “exceptionally large,” in line with state wildlife authorities.
For over a 12 months, this Hank had terrorized members of the group, ripping off display doorways and components of storage doorways, rummaging via rubbish bins, climbing stairs and scratching up automobiles, prompting dozens of calls to the police. At one house within the space, Ms. Traverso stated, Hank ripped off siding in order that she may entry a part of the home from beneath.
Bears are “incredibly adept with their hands,” able to opening latches and doorways, Ms. Traverso defined. “They know what refrigerators look like, and they know what’s in them.”
The common black bear within the Western United States weighs 100 to 300 kilos, in line with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. In ransacking houses and rummaging via trash cans, Hank discovered that she may rapidly entry 1000’s of energy without delay. It is a troubling habits that she was instructing her three cubs, which had been additionally captured on Friday, the authorities stated.
The state wildlife division hopes to rehabilitate the three younger cubs, a minimum of certainly one of which had served as an confederate in latest break-ins, by sending them to the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, about 200 miles west of South Lake Tahoe. The division stated it meant to launch the cubs again into the wild.
Their mom might be moved this week to the Wild Animal Sanctuary close to Springfield, Colo., the place she’s going to dwell in a 300-acre habitat that’s fairly much like the atmosphere she knew in California.
“The only difference is, we deliver the food,” stated Pat Craig, the chief director of the sanctuary, including that Hank was anticipated to reach there on Tuesday.
Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado welcomed Hank to the state on social media, saying she ”turned out to be Henrietta the Tank.”
Hank’s circumstances are “pretty rare,” as most “problem bears” are euthanized, Mr. Craig famous. He estimated “anywhere from 300 to close to 1,000” are put down annually within the United States.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife stated in its assertion that it pursued “an alternative solution” for the bear they name 64F, or Hank, “given the widespread interest in this bear.”
Even so, Ms. Traverso stated that, ideally, wild animals “remain wild forever.” She urged that individuals dwelling close to areas inhabited by bears safe their rubbish, decide up fruit that falls from bushes and chorus from placing out fowl feeders. Humans are the “controllable factor,” she stated.
Source: www.nytimes.com