SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California man who admitted to taking two bear cubs from their den and notified officers after he was unable to take care of them pleaded responsible to possession of a prohibited species, wildlife officers stated.
Cody Dylon Setzer, 29, and a co-worker who has not been recognized and cooperated with authorities took the month-old bears from their den in a tree that had fallen throughout a forest street, the California Division of Fish and Wildlife stated Tuesday.
Setzer contacted wildlife officers on March 9, 2019, and informed them he had discovered the infant bears alongside Freeway 263 north of Yreka in Siskiyou County, the division stated.
However wildlife officers turned suspicious of his story after they went out to the location and located no bear tracks or habitat.
“Bear cubs are 100% dependent upon the sow and if they'd been questioning on their very own they wouldn’t have survived,” stated Capt. Patrick Foy of the division’s legislation enforcement division.
Setzer’s co-worker at a timber administration firm confessed to wildlife places of work and cooperated with the investigation, Foy stated.
“The opposite particular person actually introduced them again to the den web site,” he stated.
The den web site was situated east of Salt Creek and Interstate 5 in Shasta County, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of the place Setzer stated he had discovered them and had been destroyed. Their mom was by no means situated, Foy stated.
The bear cubs had been taken to CDFW’s Wildlife Well being Laboratory in Rancho Cordova and later turned over for rehabilitation to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, which stated they had been the youngest ever introduced into its facility.
The cubs had been returned to their native habitat in Shasta County on April 28, 2020, after rising sufficiently old to outlive on their very own, the division stated.
The division printed the story Tuesday on its weblog about bears to encourage anybody who might witness wildlife poaching to contact authorities.
In November, Setzer pleaded responsible in Siskiyou Superior Court docket to possession of a prohibited species and obstructing a peace officer in the midst of his duties.
He was ordered to pay $2,290 in fines and charges and full 200 hours of neighborhood service. Setzer was additionally positioned on probation for 12 months together with his looking and fishing privileges suspended throughout his probation, and sentenced to 90 days within the county jail, which will likely be stayed if he efficiently completes probation, the division stated.
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