State won't relocate bear that attacked California man's dog: report
Man punched bear that he said had his dog in its mouth
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It looks like a bear and the California man who fought the animal to save his dog will have to learn to live as neighbors.
California Fish and Wildlife officials told KOVR in Sacramento that an incident of a bear attacking a Grass Valley man’s dog didn’t meet the criteria for a game warden to kill the bear; the state usually doesn’t relocate so-called “nuisance” bears because it just moves the problem to a different community.
Residents are responsible for dealing with the animals, according to the report.
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The news follows previous stories about how that man, Kaleb Benham, witnessed a bear attacking his pit bull named Buddy, and intervened to save the dog outside his home on the day before Thanksgiving. He said the bear had Buddy in its mouth and was dragging the pup by the head.
Kaleb Benham fought a bear before Thanksgiving after the wild animal attacked his pit bull named Buddy, pictured. (Kaleb Benham)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I just ran down there, plowed into the bear, tackled it and grabbed it by the throat and started hitting it in the face and the eye until it let go,” Behham told KOVR.
After a three-hour surgery, Buddy is now on the mend. However, the bear has continued to come by Benham’s home; the man claimed that bears eat berries and trash in his neighborhood.
“On trash day all the cans are knocked over, there’s trash everywhere,” he told KOVR.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nuisance bears that repeatedly tip garbage cans and plunder compost piles but cause no property damage are the responsibility of the landowner or resident. (iStock)
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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s bear policy is based on the degree of damage caused by the animals. In most cases when a bear wanders into a populated area, it can be dealt with using loud noise or other techniques to haze it away.
Nuisance bears that repeatedly tip garbage cans and plunder compost piles but cause no property damage are the responsibility of the landowner or resident, according to state officials. They should deter the bear by removing trash or access to other food by bear-proofing storage.
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However, in cases where a bear causes real property damage to buildings, vehicles or livestock, or is a “repeat offender,” Fish and Wildlife said officials may issue a “depredation permit,” allowing for the bear to be killed.
There are also some cases when state wildlife officials will opt to move a bear, however. In September, Fish and Wildlife caught a Lake Tahoe bear that had repeatedly stolen food from stores and a birthday party. They tagged the animal with a GPS tracking collar and moved it to “a large expanse of wild, suitable bear habitat.”