‘Hank the Tank’ is actually three bears, say California authorities
Animal ‘no longer has a death sentence hanging over him’, says campaign group
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Your support makes all the difference.A bear who allegedly raided dozens of homes in north-central California has been found to actually be three bears, according to wildlife authorities.
“Hank the Tank”, who has caught California and the world’s attention, was found to be three bears who were behind more than 30 raids on homes in recent months.
Video footage of the raids have shown a bear weighing about 500 lbs breaking windows and strolling around the Tahoe Keys neighbourhood. That bear was believed to be “Hank”.
Hundreds of calls have meanwhile been made to police.
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On Thursday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said thanks to DNA evidence, they discovered that three different bears had raided homes in Tahoe Keys.
More than 30 residences had been damaged by “Hank the Tank” in the South Lake Tahoe area – east of Sacramento – since last year, prompting wildlife authorities to investigate.
A total of three bears – two female and one male – were traced to the break-ins, and authorities appeared to suggest that the bear known as “Hank” might not be responsible for some or any of the incidents.
From now on, the department will begin trapping bears and tagging them so that DNA evidence can be tracked, as CBS Sacramento reported. The bears will then be eventually released into a “suitable habitat”, and none of the bears will be euthanised.
The BEAR League, who have been calling for authoritires to leave “Hank” alone, welcomed the news that the bear “No longer has a death sentence hanging over him and he is no longer going to have his freedom taken away from him by sending him to a sanctuary”.
“We fully support this decision and are grateful for the investigation into the truth that was taken seriously by the experts within our CA DFW,” the camping group added.
Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told SF Gate at the weeekend: “What’s problematic about this bear is how large it is. 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.”
The latest incident came on Friday, when a large bear allegedly broke “a small window and squeezed into the home, where the homeowners had no idea how to get him out”, police said. The female bear later walked into the woods nearby.
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