Hank the Tank, the massive black bear infamous for his track record of breaking into South Lake Tahoe homes looking for food, has been granted a reprieve from possible euthanasia by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
After the Caldor Fire in South Lake Tahoe last year, incidents in the area increased of bears breaking into homes, destroying property, and generally causing havoc in their quest for food.
One bear, in particular, dubbed "Hank the Tank" due to his massive, 500-1b size, recently came under scrutiny from the CDFW after breaking into several homes, including one incident where people were still in the house, as previously reported by KCBS Radio.
A previous count had his number of break-ins at around 30 homes, but according to new evidence – Hank has been shouldering the blame for two other culprits.
New DNA evidence, released by the CDFW on Thursday, shows that at least three bears have been responsible for breaking into homes.
"The most recent incident was attributed to a large black bear (the same bear the public is calling "Hank") likely based on visual observation," said the CDFW in a statement published Thursday. "Considering new evidence suggesting multiple bears are responsible for recent incidents, CDFW will work in coming weeks and months to trap bears in the South Lake Tahoe area, tag them, collect evidence for genetic analysis, and then release them into suitable habitat."
Earlier this week, there was some concern from the Bear Education Aversion Response (BEAR) League, a local nonprofit, that the state agency might euthanize Hank. The league was working with possible sanctuaries to take him in instead.
But with the new evidence, it looks like that won't need to happen, and the CDFW said in its statement that none of the bears trapped going forward will be euthanized.
"There are three other bears who have been in more homes than Hank… but he was taking the rap… probably due to his size…. and extreme handsomeness," the BEAR League wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Going forward, the CDFW is working on a trapping plan with the aim to better identify bears based on genetic information to prevent future misidentification.
The agency also reminded residents of the area to continue carefully storing food and trash.
"Increasingly, CDFW is involved in bear/human conflicts that could have been avoided by people taking a few simple actions," the agency wrote.
Residents can also work on ways to better protect their homes, including installing "bear-proof garbage receptacles," said the agency.
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