Frankfort, Ky. – Biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources were forced to euthanize a 480-pound black bear this week after it exhibited unacceptable behaviors of habituation to people. The decisive instance occurred after the bear allowed a woman and small child to approach within four feet of it at Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan County.

Black bears are native to Kentucky, but their numbers dropped significantly about a century ago due to logging and unregulated hunting. Bears have been returning to a largely reforested east Kentucky for the past two decades. And as their numbers are now growing steadily, people enjoy watching them.

However, people who leave food out so that they can see the bears are creating a problem.

“People are signing the bear’s death warrant,” said Dobey. “When a bear’s diet consists of easy pickings left out by people who simply want to watch it or take its picture, it begins to associate people with food instead of listening to a natural instinct to avoid them.

“That’s when they approach homes, populated picnic areas, and open garbage dumpsters,” he said. “While it can be a tough decision to euthanize a bear for another person’s irresponsible actions, it is human safety that is our ultimate concern in these situations.”

Department personnel sometimes trap and relocate bears exhibiting nuisance behaviors, but relocated bears often find their way back to the original site or continue their nuisance behavior in a different area. When it becomes clear that their behavior threatens human safety, the bear will be destroyed.

Jayson Plaxico, a wildlife biologist from Prestonsburg, said the 480-pound male bear he euthanized this week had recovered completely from a serious injury that was noticed last summer, when it was captured as a research animal.

“It was missing the last one-third of its lower jaw, probably from being hit by a vehicle,” said Plaxico. “We caught it in a trap last year and it weighed 300 pounds. It had become so dependent on eating garbage in Kingdom Come State Park that it allowed a woman with a small child to come within four feet of it last weekend.”

“One swipe from a powerful paw and that could be a tragedy,” said Dobey. “It can happen in an instant.”

It is illegal to feed bears in Kentucky. Persons doing so can be cited.

“We hope to get the message out that feeding bears only encourages behavior that will require us to kill them,” said Dobey. “We’ve had to kill three this spring already. And in all three instances it was because they were fed by people.”