Seems these people just needed beer:
Black bear caught after rambling through Cumming subdivision
By DOUG NURSE (
[email protected])
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/18/04
In the end, it was a weakness for Science Diet dog food and Ritz crackers that undid young Smokey's wayward journey through suburbia.
Attracted by the prospect of a constant and varied supply of good things to eat, the yearling male black bear for weeks had raided bird feeders, trash cans and dog dishes along a mile-long ridge that bestrides the city of Cumming. But on Wednesday afternoon, he got spotted as he made his rounds along the Parkside subdivision. Police were notified and responded quickly. Smokey, unaware of his notoriety, hung around.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Smokey snoozes as state wildlife biologist Jay Cantrell (left), Sgt. Robert Raines of the Cumming Police Department and 3-year-old James Davies look on.
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To ensure his continued presence, Officer Frank "Klondike" Bohaczyk safely tossed him dog food from a 20-foot wooden deck. Then, he offered wheat bread, but it didn't suit Smokey's discriminating pallet. The food-conscious mother of the house, Kathy Davies, didn't have any white bread. Desperate, they resorted to Ritz crackers, which suited Smokey just fine.
Within 30 minutes, Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Biologist Jay Cantrell arrived, and on the third attempt sank a dart loaded with 1.5 cc's of Telazol into Smokey's haunches. After a bit, the 100-pound Smokey groggily laid down.
Neighbors armed with digital cameras and video cameras watched as Cantrell darted Smokey, tagged him, and pulled a tooth to gauge his age. Smokey stirred a bit, and Cantrell gave him another .5 cc's of the muscle immobilizer. People posed and youngsters got to pet the doped-up ursine.
Now, Smokey resides somewhere up in the North Georgia mountains, where he'll have to get used to more pedestrian fare of blackberries, blueberries, apples and such.
Cantrell said he's not sure where Smokey came from. Maybe somewhere in Dawson County or Lumpkin County, which has lots of habitat and lots of bears. As a yearling, Smokey may have been forced to wander by bigger male bears.
Smokey got his name from the Police Department — who also nicknamed Bohaczyk and his sergeant on the scene, Robert "Grizzly" Raines. They had been trying to find Smokey, and nearly had him Tuesday night. They were keeping an eye on him in a subdivision while awaiting a DNR biologist, but Smokey got spooked when a neighbor dragged his trash cans to the curb.
For two weeks, Cantrell had set out traps baited with yummy and stinky sardines and salmon, but Smokey was having none of it. He liked to hang with people.
Jill Sullivan, who lives two doors down, said that on Monday morning she went to open the front blinds and there he sat, eating food intended for her dog, Abby. Sullivan called police, but Smokey was too quick for them. Later that day, she heard Abby frantically barking to get in, and when she opened the door, the pup darted in with the bear close behind.
"I slammed the door," Sullivan said. "The bear sat there for a little while. I think he wanted to play."
Then on Wednesday, while fixing a grilled cheese sandwich for her daughter, Megan, the bear reappeared in the back, ground-level deck. He sat there and watched Megan eat, then stood and played with the chimes for a little bit.
"He tapped them," Sullivan said. "He didn't knock them down."
Then he wandered to Davies where he had his date with the law.
Kathy Davies was reading "I Will Not Get Up Today" by Dr. Seuss to her 3-year-old son, James, about 2:30 p.m. when Sullivan called to tell her the bear was headed her way. She ran to the deck and from her perch of safety saw the bear meandering by the creekbed behind her house. Soon the police, called by others, were there.
"I never felt threatened," she said. "He was very docile. We did have concerns for the small children. We never let James out in yard without one of us there."
Harold Davies, who was home sick on Wednesday, lamented the destruction of bear habitat by the growth in the area. But he was happy that Smokey has a new home in the mountains.
"It was quite exciting," Harold said. "You don't think you'd see something like that in your backyard."