Police believe a mother black bear and her three baby cubs are behind a string of break-ins in the Lake Tahoe area of California.
DNA evidence indicates that the family of four broke into 21 homes between February 2022 and May 2023, though they may be linked to additional home invasions, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced in a statement Friday.
The agency had been tracking the female black bear, officially known as 64F, for months before capturing her and her cubs.
Usually, given the high number of break-ins, it would mean the bear would be put down. But her celebrity notoreity has earned her a reprieve.
“Twenty-one break-ins is really pretty significant, and it’s a very much learned behavior and it does not look like it can be rehabilitated,” Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Jordan Traverso said.
So the mother bear will now be relocated away from the area, to the Wild Animal Sanctuary near Springfield, Colorada, where it’ll be free to roam with others of its kind.
“Given the widespread interest in this bear, and the significant risk of a serious incident involving the bear, CDFW is employing an alternative solution to safeguard the bear family as well as the people in the South Lake Tahoe community,” the fish and wildlife agency said in a statement.
The cubs will be sent to a rehab center in Sonoma County where they will learn how to live in the wild.
“Sanctuary life is not ideal,” Mr Traverso said. “Getting them back into the wild is the best plan.”
