They might be cute and cuddly, but a bear is not a legal pet to own, and one North California man learned this the hard way after he admitted taking two bear cubs from their den in 2019.
Cody Dylon Setzer, 29, admitted to taking the cubs and has been charged with possession of a prohibited species to which he pleaded guilty, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday in a blog.
Setzer didn’t work alone when taking the month-old bear cubs, as he was assisted by a coworker who was not identified.
The pair found the bears in a collapsed tree, taking them to raise as pets, but after it was too difficult, they contacted wildlife officers.
Setzer told officers on March 9, 2019, that they had found the bears along Highway 263 north of Yreka in Siskiyou County, according to the department. However, officers were suspicious of his story because they found no bear tracks or habitat when visiting the site.
Capt. Patrick Foy of the department’s law enforcement divisions shared why the story seemed murky with the Associated Press.
“Bear cubs are 100% dependent upon the sow, and if they had been wandering on their own, they wouldn’t have survived,” Foy said.
The actual den site was 90 miles south of where the two had found the bear cubs, east of Salt Creek and Interstate 5 in Shasta County, and had been destroyed, according to Foy, the mother was not found.
After Setzer’s coworker confessed to wildlife offices and cooperated with the investigation, the bears were taken by the CDFW’s Wildlife Health Laboratory in Rancho Cordova. They were then turned over for rehabilitation to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, the youngest cubs the facility had ever helped.
On April 28, 2020, the bears were set free in their native habitat after growing enough to survive by themselves.
Setzer pleaded guilty in Siskiyou Superior Court to possession of a prohibited species and obstruction of a peace officer in the course of his duties in November. He has been ordered to pay $2,290 in fines and complete 200 hours of community service.
He will now be on probation until November 2022, and until the probation is over, he is not allowed to hunt or fish. He will also avoid a 90 day stay in jail if he completes probation, the department said.
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