America has been keeping a close eye on the whole “Hank the Tank” situation, the 500-pound California black bear who’s been accused of breaking into dozens of homes, and is responsible for more than a hundred 911 calls.
He wasn’t harming anybody, just simply making his way into homes and digging through the fridge for leftover food.
However, many residents of the South Lake Tahoe area have been trying to figure out what to do about the situation, and Wildlife Authorities came to the conclusion that ol’ Hank was going to have to be killed. He was too accustomed to eating human food rather than hunting for his own.
Of course, the California Bear League is pleading for that not to happen, as nobody wants to see the massive bear suffer the same fate as Harambe.
Authorities have been investigating the break-ins, and to many people’s surprise, it turns out that “Hank the Tank” has been framed.
That’s right, according to NPR, DNA evidence has proven that the bear is NOT the culprit.
Members of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have tested several DNA samples from the homes that have been broken into, and it turns out, three different bears are to blame for the break-ins, with two being females.
The CDFW weighed in on the frame job:
“Identifying bears simply by their visible, physical characteristics can lead to misidentifying bears and therefore confusing management efforts.
The genetic information gleaned from our effort in the South Lake Tahoe area will assist CDFW by expanding its database of bear genetics and hopefully preventing future misidentification of bears.”
Now that they have an idea on who’s doing the ransacking, the authorities are planning to capture and relocate the bears to a new location.
I’d say that’s a win for both parties right there.
