Black Bear Kills Pet Goat

Wednesday night at 9:30, the owners of a house at the corner of Quince Avenue and 19th Streets heard an unusual noise in their back yard. They have an 8-foot high solid wood privacy fence surrounding their back yard, and the gates were locked. They had locked their two pygmy goats inside their shed for the night, as soon as dusk fell. The man opened the back door and looked out with a flashlight - he saw a 200-pound black bear with a dead and bloody black goat in its mouth. He went back inside, called 911, and went back out. The bear tried to climb a tree, carrying its prey; it didn't succeed, so stood at the foot of the tree eating Charm, a 13-month old goat. When police, deputies, and the Department of Wildlife arrived, the bear scaled the fence and ran in a westerly direction. It left the remains of the goat. A search commenced, but the bear was not spotted. DoW set up a trap and baited it with the goat carcass, but the bear has not returned.

Meanwhile, in the neighborhood two streets to the east, where I do the majority of my pet-sitting, a bear attacked and destroyed several wrought iron shepherds hooks that had multiple bird feeders attached. The bird feeders were smashed, and all the seed and grains consumed. The bear also opened the trash can at that house, and took a 30-gallon bag of trash out - eating what it chose. At 1 a.m., the bear was visiting my sister and brother-in-law's house - there was no trash there, but there was a completely full 75 gallon compost bin. The bin was turned upside down and all the contents removed, while the dogs went ballistic inside the house. Yesterday afternoon, about 2 p.m., one of the Chandler boys stepped out into his front lawn and reappeared inside, yelling , "Bear!" at his parents. The adults ran to see the bear, and it ran south, crossing Emerald and into Leslie's yard, where it proceeded around and through trees and bushes and ended up on the paved track for Centennial Middle School... It disappeared from there.... Here is a photo of the bear crossing Leslie's yard:

 

DoW is trying to capture and/or kill this bear.  They say once a bear kills and acquires the taste for meat and blood, it cannot be rehabilitated....