Man who stole two newborn bear cubs from den pays the price
David Strege - 17 March 2022
Aman in California who discovered a den site in a fallen log across a forest road and stole two bear cubs estimated to have been 4 weeks old pleaded guilty to unlawful possession and obstructing wildlife officers.
Man who stole two newborn bear cubs from den pays the price Cody Dylon Setzer, 29, of Yreka and a co-worker from a local timber company inexplicably stole the cubs and took them to a work site, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Setzer subsequently contacted wildlife officers on March 9, 2019 and claimed he had found the cubs alongside Highway 263 north of Yreka. But a wildlife officer became suspicious when no bear tracks were found at that location, prompting an investigation.
Through DNA, it was determined that the cubs were likely born in the Sacramento River canyon in northern Shasta County, more than 90 miles south of where Setzer claimed he found them.
Capt. Patrick Foy of CDFW told the Associated Press that the co- worker confessed to wildlife officers and cooperated with the investigation, taking wildlife officers to the den site east of Salt Creek and Interstate 5 where further evidence was collected. The men had destroyed the den, and the sow was never located.
The bear cubs were the youngest ever taken in by the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, which rehabilitated the animals until they were old enough to survive before returning them to their native habitat in Shasta County on April 28, 2020.
From the CDFW, which first reported the story on Tuesday:
On Nov. 17, 2021, Setzer pleaded guilty in Siskiyou Superior Court to possession of a prohibited species and obstructing a peace officer in the course of his duties. Coincidentally, Setzer had also been prosecuted for a separate, unrelated case and the district attorney’s office agreed to combine sentencing for both. Due to his guilty plea on both cases, he was ordered to pay $2,290 in fines and fees and complete 200 hours of community service. Setzer was also placed on probation for 12 months with his hunting and fishing privileges suspended for the duration of his probation, and sentenced to 90 days in the county jail, which will be stayed if he successfully completes probation.
Poster Comment:
I know a guy that caught a Bobcat in his leg hold trap. He was also a Coon hunter. After he would skin a raccoon, he would throw it the carcass. Wildlife agents caught him with the Bobcat and he had to pay $180 in fines. You can't keep a wild animal in a cage.
#1: Ada To: BTP Holdings (#0)
Ada posted on 2022-03-17 17:55:58 Reply Private Reply
#2: Ada To: All (#1)
Ada posted on 2022-03-17 18:04:35 Reply Private Reply
#3: Bill D Berger To: BTP Holdings (#0)
The organist lady at the church I went to when I was a kid owned a bobcat and she kept it in a cage this was Ohio but I don't know what the laws were back then in the 60s.
Bill D Berger posted on 2022-03-17 18:17:31 Reply Private Reply
#4: BTP Holdings To: Ada (#2)
If that is a link, it does not seem to work. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2022-03-17 18:21:00 Reply Private Reply
#5: BTP Holdings To: Bill D Berger (#3)
I am thinking that even if there were enough wild places in Ohio in the 60s that there could be a healthy family of Bobcats that would be a big surprise.
When I owned the land near Lebanon, MO, my neighbor told me you could ride a horse 30 miles out behind his place and not cross fence once.
One evening he was fishing in the pond next to his house and his dog came and cowered between his legs. He said, "If you're afraid of it, so am I. Let's go in the house."
It might have been a mountain lion since they come to the pond before dark to drink.
Several years ago, a guy who lives here in town told me he couldn't get his dogs in the house. He found out there was a bear out there. I'll bet he was looking to scavenge some garbage in the area. Police and fire chased him out the north end of town. Bears don't know what lights and sirens are, so they run. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2022-03-17 18:31:05 Reply Private Reply
#6: randge To: Ada (#2)
Baby raccoons are fun little monsters when they're real little, and you can feed them chow and water out of a bowl just like a kitty. It was kind of neat for a while.
After a month or two though those baby raccoons become adolescent raccoons, and they get kind of grumpy and hard to handle. Raccoon fanciers soon find out that they are dealing with a wild animal and learn why you don't keep wild animals in the house.
randge posted on 2022-03-17 18:34:31 Reply Private Reply
#7: Esso To: randge, 4um (#6)
Esso posted on 2022-03-17 18:40:09 Reply Private Reply
#8: Lod To: BTP Holdings (#0)
Lod posted on 2022-03-17 18:53:02 Reply Private Reply
#9: Esso To: Lod (#8)
I was hoping.
Esso posted on 2022-03-17 18:59:37 Reply Private Reply
#10: Ada To: BTP Holdings (#4)
Coolidge's pet racoon
Ada posted on 2022-03-17 21:02:29 Reply Private Reply