COOS BAY, Ore. – State wildlife officials say they can’t find a home for Windfall, a 150-pound bear that was living happily with a father and son in their backwoods home near Coos Bay.
Zoos, animal parks and sanctuaries across the country either don’t meet Oregon standards for taking the bear, don’t have room or simply don’t want it, state wildlife biologist Stuart Love said.
With release in the wild and a return to the family out of the question because of public safety concerns, it’s possible the bear the two men raised from a cub could be killed.
“I really hope we don’t have to euthanize that bear,” Love said. “I hope not. But it may come down to that.”
That won’t happen if Coos County District Attorney Paul Burgett has a say. He said he hopes the state will loosen its requirements to see the bruin gets a safe, humane home.
“If the only people who can take the animal are people with a good facility but not a necessary permit, then I’d say, let them have it,” Burgett said.
“The message to the public here is that this bear’s life is hanging by a thread,” Burgett said. “You take a bear out of the wild, you’re dooming it.”
Most facilities across the country have all the black bears they need right now and are saving their space for rarer varieties, said Stacey Johnson, who coordinates orphan black bear adoptions through the American Zoo and Aquarium Society.
The bear is in a California state facility awaiting its fate.
Rocky Perkett said earlier that he and his son Jonathan found the orphaned bear while logging. They raised it in their home and treated it as “a daughter.”
Taking an animal out of the wild without a permit is illegal in Oregon. State police seized the bear Oct. 24, and the men face possible misdemeanor charges.
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