A feminine black bear who wildlife authorities say broke into not less than 21 California houses has been relocated to an animal sanctuary in Colorado.
Henrietta is now getting used to her new digs on the Wild Animal Refuge close to Springfield, in keeping with a Facebook post shared Friday.
“WELCOME HOME!” wrote the Wild Animal Sanctuary, the nonprofit that operates the refuge. Its social media submit included images of Henrietta inside a brief “introduction enclosure” in a 230-acre habitat the place she’ll finally be capable of roam.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary
Henrietta was previously often called the infamous “Hank the Tank” ― although her id is just a little complicated.
In February final yr, state officers pinned a collection of 28 house invasions in South Lake Tahoe, California, on a 500-pound black bear, who got here to be known as Hank the Tank.
However not lengthy after, DNA proof confirmed that the ursine break-ins weren’t the work of only one burglary-happy bear. It turned out that not less than three totally different bears had been getting into residences and in search of meals within the rich neighborhood of Tahoe Keys.
Henrietta was a kind of three bears. She was captured earlier this month, and the California Division of Fish and Wildlife mentioned that DNA proof proved she had personally damaged into 21 houses between February 2022 and Might 2023. A press release from the agency additionally mentioned she was “suspected” in further incidents.
California Division of Fish and Wildlife
“I suppose all of them technically are ‘Hank the Tank,’” division spokesperson Jordan Traverso told The New York Times. She added that the opposite two Hanks haven’t “offered themselves as issues” this yr, so authorities are leaving them alone for now.
Henrietta’s habitat on the sanctuary is forested with pine bushes, and she or he’ll be capable of work together with different black bears and hibernate as she would naturally, Wild Animal Sanctuary Government Director Pat Craig told USA Today.
Henrietta had three cubs that had been additionally taken into custody. As a substitute of being despatched to the sanctuary with their mom, the cubs went to Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue in Petaluma, the place they are going to be rehabilitated with the objective of releasing them again to the wild.
All in all, the bear household is fortunate. Craig advised the Instances that almost all “drawback bears” in america wind up being killed. The California Division of Fish and Wildlife even famous in its press launch that selections made about Henrietta and her cubs had been influenced by “widespread curiosity” in her story from the general public.
