The 500-pound black bear has damaged more than 30 properties around Lake Tahoe, and last week broke into yet another home in an endless quest for a quick meal.
Known by residents as Hank the Tank, the giant bear has eluded capture for more than seven months, according to Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“What’s problematic about this bear is how large it is,” Tira told SF Gate on Sunday. “It’s learned to use that size and strength to break into a number of occupied residences, bursting through the garage door or front door. It’s pretty frightening."
The bear is responsible for more than 150 incident reports in the region straddling Northern California and Nevada. A Friday break-in at a residence in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood is the latest, according to CBS Sacramento.
The bear smashed a window and squeezed into the house on Catalina Drive while the residents were at home. Police responded and banged on the outside of the house until Hank exited out the back door and disappeared into the woods.
Also known as Jake or Yogi or simply Big Guy, the bear is what Tira described as a “severely food habituated bear" that has “lost all fear of people” and thinks of them as a food source.
A homeowners association agreed during a meeting last week to allow state wildlife personnel to capture the bear. Previous trapping efforts, which are generally more successful in wooded settings, have proven futile in residential areas where the bear has become acclimated, SF Gate reported.
After the break-in Friday, officials collected DNA evidence to make an accurate match if they capture the bear. If Hank is captured, officials said the bear could be relocated to accredited facilities such as zoos and wildlife sanctuaries, Tira said.
“You relocate it to the wilderness, and they starve because they’re not used to hunting for food," Tira said.
Killing the bear is hopefully a last resort, said Joby Cefalu, a board member with the homeowners association.
“Nobody on our board took lightly the situation of depredation,” Cefalu told the Los Angeles Times. "We’re meant to coexist. Unfortunately, this is a human problem.”
Students in the Chicago Public School system will head back to class tomorrow at long last. The move comes after four days of canceled classes due to clashes between teachers and the city, including Chicago Mayor Laurie Lightfoot. National Educational Reporter at USA Today, Richard Erin, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Sixteen of the country's most prestigious universities have been hit with a lawsuit claiming those schools illegally conspired to eliminate competitive financial aid offers for students. Just some of the schools mentioned include Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell. Author of "Who Gets In and Why" and Professor of practice at Arizona State University, Jeff Selingo, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Navient, a major student loan collecting company, agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt owed by more than 66,000 borrowers across the U.S. and pay over $140 million in other penalties to settle allegations of abusive lending practices.
The recently expired child tax credit helped a wide swathe of families throughout the U.S. Megan Pratz looks into the impact the payments had, and how the end of the program will have a drastic effect on families that could still use the help with child care.
Supreme Court Scraps most of Biden's vaccine mandate 2021 was hot, hot , hot, and it's time for salad dressing-makers to go crazy. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Friday, January 14, 2022.
Buckingham Palace says that Prince Andrew’s honorary military titles and royal patronages have been returned to Queen Elizabeth II with her “approval and agreement.”
Everything is so expensive, the weather is too darn cold, and a major leaguer pinch hits for teachers. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Thursday, January 13, 2022.
COVID-19 continues to impact the world of sports, and most significantly, the NHL. The world's premier hockey league has postponed a total of 104 games so far this season, and a spike in omicron infections has led to a surge in postponements in recent weeks. This comes after the NHL went dark for six days in December because of a COVID-19 outbreak, and after the league decided not to have its players participate in the 2022 Beijing Olympics so it can use the time to reschedule postponed games. Yahoo Sports NHL reporter Justin Cuthbert joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
A land mine-detecting rat in Cambodia who received a prestigious award for his life-saving duty has died in retirement. APOPO, a Belgium-headquartered non-profit group, says the African giant pouched rat passed away last weekend.
