Posted on 06/03/2009 8:58:57 AM PDT by jazusamo
NEWPORT -- A Lincoln County jury on Tuesday found a Yachats woman on trial in connection with feeding black bears guilty of one count of chasing and harassing wildlife.
She was acquitted, however, of five counts of recklessly endangering another person.
The Lincoln County district attorney's office brought the charges against Karen Noyes, 61, after the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife responded to a call from Noyes and found pictures in her house of her feeding the bears. She was originally charged with four counts of chasing and harassing wildlife. But Judge Thomas Branford moved to consolidate the multiple charges into one.
Noyes, who insisted from the start that she was innocent of wrongdoing, now faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $6,250 fine. Her sentencing is set for June 25.
"If you feed the birds, you feed the bears; if you feed the raccoons, you feed the bears," she said earlier. "I feed the bears. People are running on fear. It's a hunting community and they just want to wipe the animals out."
The trial began Thursday. The jury heard testimony from neighbors who told of being terrorized by the bears, which they believed were attracted by Noyes' feeding activities in her yard.
Dena Pickner said she grew so frightened of one particularly aggressive male that her ex-husband took to picking her up in the morning to drive her from the house to the barn.
One evening, she awoke to find the bear coming through the dog door. Two weeks later, a family friend shot the bear. It was one of four killed in Yachats last summer over a four-week period. Each of those bears was deemed a threat to people.
Another neighbor lost a flock of 60 turkeys when a bear ripped open the barn where they were housed.
Noyes blamed the problems on those neighbors.
"They are responsible for their own attractants," she said in an interview during the trial. "If they don't want to see a bear, they've got to quit feeding the birds and raccoons; either that or give the bear a bowl of his own."
Bear expert Lynn Rogers, who's been featured on Animal Planet TV's "The Man Who Walks With Bears," flew to Oregon from Minnesota to testify on Noyes' behalf. By feeding the bears, Rogers said, Noyes was doing her neighbors a favor because they would not have to scavenge elsewhere for food.
But Lincoln County District Attorney Rob Bovett countered that Noyes was not only guilty of harassing the animals, but also of being a bad neighbor.
"If she feeds the birds her neighbors aren't being impacted," said Bovett. "If she feeds raccoons, some cats might get killed. It's not all the same. It's different impacts. She has consistently failed to take into account the impact of her actions on her neighbors."
Much, much sooner, if she keeps feeding them out of her hand.
Geez, people are dumb.
That's a fact and OR has more than it's share of eco nuts.
Anyhoo, some other tourists that were in that neck of the woods sent their kids out "to pet the cute Baby Buffalos" while they videotaped the event. My Dad grabbed the kids and hauled them back before they got too far; fortunately, no one was hurt.
If we could harness stupidity, there'd be an endless energy source.
I bet she called DFW to complain about her neighbors shooting a bear and then got busted herself.
remind me to take care of my skin......
Or maybe Bearkenstocks!
> Or maybe Bearkenstocks!
(BIG GRIN!!!)
I almost feel sorry for this woman, but I sometimes see this sort of behavior in other older women. They seem to have a very powerful maternal instinct, and if it can't find an appropriate outlet, they turn to nurturing animals. But nurturing poodles or stray cats is one thing.
But bears? Sheesh...
Thanks for the pings, Jaz!
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