‘Hank the Tank’, the 227kg black bear suspected of breaking into 33 homes in South Lake Tahoe, California, and ransacking the fridges, appears to have some friends.
The hungry bear has never hurt anyone but has accumulated 102 police responses and became the subject of 152 reports of “conflict behaviour” over the past seven months.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said that Hank likely became a little too comfortable with the local amenities.
“They’re supposed to be hibernating,” Lieutenant Jeff Roberson of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department told NBC News. “[But if] they’re used to people and being fed year-round, they don’t really do the bear stuff.”
Now evidence has revealed that Hank is not the only guilty bear burglar. Recent DNA tests by CDFW show that at least three different bears have been involved in the break-ins. Tahoe is a natural bear habitat.
“While recent incidents of bears invading homes were originally thought to be a single bear, DNA evidence collected from the most recent incident as well as prior incidents over the past several months prove that at least three bears were responsible for breaking into numerous residences,” CDFW said in a statement.
Sounds like the real-life ‘Yogi Bear & Friends’!
