He was killed while roaming stubbornly in a California camp in early August. A family camped there had no way to chase him away. Park administrators decided to intervene.
Conflict at parties
The nearly 15-year-old male made his first appearance last year on Kings Beach, north of Lake Tahoe. Large Lake is a tourist destination on the border of the states of California and Nevada. The Safeway Bear not only checked into the shops there (video: see below), but accidentally crashed at parties held on the shores of the lake.
In addition, he treats birthday cakes and other treats, intimidating guests. It was enough for the park officials to move him: he was placed on an electronic collar so they knew where he was, and he was transferred to a natural reserve about 60 kilometers away.
The bear was able to remove the electronic collar this spring. When it was recovered, park officials said it could have survived in the wild – not in birthday cakes, but in “natural food”. The collar may have come out because the bear came out of the winter very thin.
Absolutely debilitating
But research has now established that the bear that was shot at a camp site was the Safeway Bear. “He no longer has a shadow of his own,” park managers say. “He was completely emaciated and his teeth were rotten.” His killing would have “been the most humane consequence of the bear in the end”.
Authorities are using this opportunity to remind people not to feed bears so that animals do not depend on humans for their survival.
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