Colo. Sanctuary Sues Over State Reg, In Effort to Give Captured Calif. Bear a New Home
Black bear. Image from Shutterstock.
It appears that a California bear’s salad days of dining on tasty human food in trash cans and taking a dip in swimming pools near the foothills of Glendale, are over.
However, the future of the 400-pound, approximately 5-year-old black bear is uncertain because of a Colorado state regulation that bans sanctuaries from accepting animals taken from the wild.
A bear sanctuary in Colorado wants the bruin, who is known both as the Glendale bear and as Meatball because of his taste for human chow. But at this point it appears that a favorable ruling from the 2nd Judicial District Court in Denver, where the Wild Animal Sanctuary has filed suit seeking to invalidate the regulation, is needed to put Meatball there, according to KSWB, a Fox affiliate, and the Los Angeles Times’ L.A. Now blog.
The bear, who was captured late last month for the third time by California wildlife officials as he ventured into human territory, is being held for now in a cage the size of spacious bedroom at the Lions, Tigers and Bears rescue facility in San Diego County.
“It’s just a confusing situation, and we’d like some clarification,” said attorney Chris Kemper, who represents the Colorado sanctuary, of the state regulation.
An earlier story in the Los Angeles Times provides additional details.
