Hank the Tank, a 500-pound bear, has become a worrisome nuisance for residents in South Lake Tahoe, California, after breaking into more than two dozen homes.
The black bear rummaged for food, leaving a destructive trail. So far, hazing the bear with paintballs, beanbags, sirens and tasers hasn’t worked, and Hank has come around again and again, searching for humans and their food.
Hank the Tank’s criminal record
Hank has broken into 28 homes in the Tahoe area since last July. Local residents have filed over a hundred police reports.
“It’s easier to find leftover pizza than to go in the forest,” said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, per The New York Times.
“This is a bear that has lost all fear of people,” Tira said. “It’s a potentially dangerous situation.”
An average black bear weighs 100 to 300 pounds and Hank's larger size can be attributed to his liking for human garbage, not berries, according to The Guardian.
Hank The Tank’s latest stunt
On Friday, Hank broke into a home through a small window. The police banged on the exteriors of the home until Hank came out the back door, according to a Facebook post by South Lake Tahoe Police Department.
The officers “are trained to use deterrents such as loud sirens, dry-firing their tasers (makes a clicky-clack noise that the bears hate!), and beanbag rounds to remind bears that it’s not very nice to break people’s property!”
What’s going to happen to Hank The Tank?
The BEAR League, a nonprofit wildlife rescue group, is campaigning against Hank getting euthanized. Instead, they want him taken to a sanctuary.
“It’s extremely frustrating to imagine with these other options to save his life that the threat is always looming over that you know he could be killed,” Ann Bryant, executive director of BEAR League said, according to ABC News. “We can’t sit back and just accept that. It’s not tolerable, you know. To kill him is going to send a message to the public that the Department of Wildlife doesn’t think his life is worth anything, that he’s just a nuisance. He’s a pest.”
The Department of Wildlife had set traps to catch the bear but those were removed after public outcry. How Hank the Thank will be taken off the city streets remains unclear.