Calfornia man who took two bear cubs from their den pleads guilty

[frauenfelder]

Originally published at: Calfornia man who took two bear cubs from their den pleads guilty | Boing Boing

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[Alvin_Goodman]

Didn’t think this through fully.

Replace “bear cubs” with “children” and pretty obvious this guy should not reproduce.

[Brainspore]

@frauenfelder

The co-worker took officers to the location of the den site east of Salt Creek and Interstate 5. Further evidence was collected from the den site, which had been destroyed by both men. The sow was never located.

My hypothesis: the men shot the mother and then Setzer felt bad about orphaning the cubs so he decided to try raising them on his own. When he realized he was in over his head he called the authorities for help but didn’t want to cop to the additional crime of the illegal bear hunt.

[Otherbrother]

@frauenfelder

He tried to raise the cubs on his own, but called authorities when he realized the cubs weren’t thriving.

This guy was an a-hole who deserves significant punishment, but let’s be glad he wasn’t so big of an a-hole to just kill or abandon the cubs once he realized they weren’t going to make it. He must have known that there would be some consequences when he contacted the authorities but he did so anyway.

Edit: @Brainspore might have the right theory. Still, I wonder why he didn’t just make up a story about finding the helpless cubs abandoned on the side of the road and make himself out to be a hero?

Edit#2: guess I should’ve read the whole linked article before commenting. Disregard my statements above.

Wildlife officers became aware of the bear cubs on March 9, 2019, when Setzer called them, claiming he had found the cubs along the roadside on Highway 263 north of Yreka. A wildlife officer became suspicious of Setzer’s story when no bear tracks or habitat were found at the location where Setzer claimed he had found them.

[Papasan]

I have nothing nice to say about this dickhead.

[Mister44]

Pinches bridge of nose… do not adopt wildlife. Especially apex predators. Especially apex predators who grow up to be huge.

[wolfman_al2]

I hope that this guy is just terminally stupid, but not malicious.
Taking bear cubs from their den is by all metrics a stupid idea.

[MadLibrarian]

I am not excusing the guy’s behavior, but perhaps:

1. Den tree with cubs in it falls across/near road.
2. Guy arrives as part of road crew tasked with clearing tree
3. Guy discovers cubs, does not see mom nearby, BAD JUDGEMENT AHEAD elects to take them and try to rear them himself
4. Guy runs into trouble with cubs, surrenders them to appropriate authorities

This scenario was okay up until the BAD JUDGEMENT AHEAD part. I don’t know the leadup, so I may be making bad guesses myself.

[Brainspore]

But then why lie to the authorities about the location and circumstances in which he found the cubs, let alone destroy the den site?

Part of the sentence against this fool includes a prohibition on hunting and fishing, so I think that lends credence to the theory that these guys were poachers who tried to cover up the evidence of their crimes—which may or may not have included killing the cubs’ mother.

[Bobo]

This.

If he was part of a road crew who came innocently across a couple of bear cubs with no Mom in sight, he would have called Fish and Game to get them to take care of the cubs.

The last thing any sane person would want to do would be to be handling cubs when you have no idea where Momma Bear is. They knew where she was. (and that she wouldn’t be coming to maul their asses)

[Otherbrother]

In more cheerful yet terrifying bear news, this encounter happened in the next town over from mine:

Video: Bears approach man with corned beef, open car door in Sierra Madre

They’ve learned how to open car doors now! (I mean, in addition to the canopener technique they’re already known for)

[Brainspore]

@Otherbrother

They’ve learned how to open car doors now!

[Mindysan33]