"Hank the Tank," notorious Lake Tahoe bear, being sent to Colorado rehab
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated what will end up happening with the bear's three cubs. That information has been updated to reflect that they will end up in a California animal sanctuary.
A beloved, yet often-trouble-causing black bear from Lake Tahoe, California has been captured and will be sent to a rehabilitation facility in Colorado, according to California wildlife officials.
The bear -- officially named Bear 64F but given the nickname "Hank the Tank" because of her size -- is accused of multiple break-ins and instances of property destruction in the Lake Tahoe area since last year. Her three cubs, which allegedly accompany their mama on her exploits -- were also captured and will be going to a sanctuary in California.
The nickname has actually been given to several problem bears in the area, all larger-than-average. One Hank the Tank, which appears to be a different one than 64F based on appearance, was actually such a nuisance, wildlife officials thought it was dangerous and planned to euthanize it, until DNA evidence exonerated the bear.
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Bear 64F was given a GPS collar to track her movement, but almost immediately tore it off. However, DNA evidence allegedly linked her to 21 break-ins between February 2022 and May 2023. She will be coming to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Springfield, Colorado to keep both the bear and the public safe, due to what California wildlife officials call a "significant risk of a serious incident."
They believe relocating the bear family is the best solution in this case, although relocating problem bears can often relocate the problem behavior.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary has about 750 animals -- about a third of which are bears -- in four facilities in Colorado and Texas. The Springfield location is about 10,000 acres and is as close to living in the wild as a sanctuary can get, according to Executive Director Pat Craig.
Craig expects Hank to arrive at the sanctuary by Monday or Tuesday. He's grateful for the opportunity to rescue these bears, whose behavior is no fault of their own, he said.
"We're always very happy to know that we've made a difference for any animal, even one bear or one lion or one tiger, to know it's got a second chance at life," Craig told CBS News Colorado on Saturday. "A lot of the ones we rescue were suffering and abused or whatever, but with this bear, people need to realize that they're the ones that create the problem by leaving food accessible to a bear."
The Wild Animal Sanctuary made headlines after taking in tigers that were being kept by Joe Exotic, of "Tiger King" fame, and lions that were in zoos under bombardment in Ukraine.
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Less than 1% of nuisance bears get the opportunity to be rehabilitated, according to Craig. The risks posed by bears or other wild animals that lose their fear of humans is so high in some states, that sanctuaries don't have the space to rescue all of them. But in certain circumstances, a bear can develop almost celebrity status that helps offer them a second chance.
"In this case, there were a lot of people paying attention to the bear and worried about the bear. But then there were some stories that it could have been more than one bear, so I think when people started to worry that this bear was going to be tried unfairly because there could have been more than one bear. When the energy starts to grow and surround a case like this, any fish and game (agency) -- whether it's California or Colorado or any other state -- has gotta balance that," Craig said. "I think a lot of people just resonated with this one bear and felt like they really hoped there was a way for that bear not to be euthanized."