Animal “Lovers” Strike Again

Stories like this just plain infuriate me. Authorities were forced to kill a bear and her two cubs in Douglas County, Nevada because the bears repeatedly tore doors off houses to break in and steal food. They had been encouraged to do so by "Animal Lovers" who had been feeding the bears.

A mother bear and her two nine-month-old cubs were euthanized Tuesday, after breaking into several Douglas County homes.

The trio, who had been fed by Pine View residents, had graduated to tearing off front doors and breaking into garages, said Carl Lackey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

"They were a double safety threat at that point," he said. "A fed bear is a dead bear. They were pretty habituated."

Normally, the cubs are rehabilitated but these two were breaking into homes on their own. The mother bear was first caught in 2000, when she was raiding trash cans. She was given aversion training and released and hadn't been seen again until this year, Lackey said.

"We've been after her since June," he said.

Of the 80 bears caught in traps in the area, which includes, Reno, Carson Valley and Lake Tahoe, just eight have been euthanized. Two other bears raiding the River Pines residential area were caught, given aversion training and released this week, Lackey said.

The disneyfication of wildlife is taking an increasing toll on animals. People who insist of feeding wildlife out of some sort of misguided "love" for the animals should be penalized for that behavior. They are the ones who are ultimately at fault when things like this happen.