Posted on 06/08/2005 4:27:20 PM PDT by Malsua
VERNON, N.J. -- A township police officer fatally shot a 100-pound black bear after he and another officer responded to a woman's call that two bruins had broken into her kitchen.
Margo Spilotras had just finished taking a shower when she heard crashing and crunching sounds coming from the back of her home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Clad only in a towel, Spilotras ran to the kitchen and found two bears -- a 400-pound mother bear and one of her cubs -- had slid open a screen door and were inside the home.
The mother bear fled out the door after Spilotras saw her, but the cub -- which had been going through a trash can -- merely backed away before Spilotras threw a sneaker at its nose. The cub then fled to the deck as well.
"I threw a shoe at the bear. How stupid am I? I'm extremely lucky it didn't charge me," Spilotras told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Wednesday's editions.
As the cub munched on some Oreo cookies and a box of Cheerios, Spilotras alerted authorities and struggled to close a sliding glass door in the kitchen as the mother bear began pounding on a kitchen window.
When Vernon Patrolmen Scott Alsberge and David Hering arrived, they found the bears and another cub in the yard. One cub then ran up a tree while the mother jumped a 4-foot chain link fence to escape, but the second cub was shot by Hering after it started lumbering toward him in an aggressive manner.
The other cub escaped unharmed and fled with its mother.
State wildlife officials recently warned all state residents to be on the alert for wandering black bears, the strongest advisory issued since the bruin population started to rebound in the state.
Wildlife officials received 487 bear complaints between Jan. 1 and May 9, more than twice the number received during the same period last year.
I wondered why the NBC4 truck and a Vernon police officer was there.
Havn't seen the bears much this year, but I know this mom/cubs. I've seen them snooping around.
We need another bear hunt.
Bear ping!
A hundred pound cub? He could probably wrestle it and win.
A 100-lb cub and the guy shoots it? I mean, a 100-lb bear cub is not going to attack a human. It probably thought he had cookies for him or something.
She was in a towel. Besides, mama bear gets all pissy when someone touches the cubs.
I gotta say, the cubs are very cute fuzz balls. They wander through my yard on occasion.
A guy between my house and this one was convicted of putting out meat for the bears _3_ times. He was a weekender(as are many in this lake community) so he'd put it out on weekends before he left. I think we're paying the dividend on that bit of stupidity.
can you get a pistol permit?
Not good to feed the wild creatures. I let voles [cute] drink out of my rainwater catchment and squirrels [nasty] chew the seed cones off the spruce, but only if they leave the house alone.
They end up hunted down one way or another.
Their numbers have obviously become a problem when they start entering homes.
Wake up NJ and allow a bear hunt for their good as well as yours.
Can you blame me for leaving that state?
Did they eat her porridge?
Must have been one of the anti-bear hunt protesters that live in the Wayne/Paterson areas. These idiots haven't got a clue, let alone live 24/7 with the "cuddly black bears". I understand that more then one pet has been draged off lately. Just a matter of time until it's someone's kid. I will make full use of my 2nd amendment rights if one is in my house, then I'll call the Vernon cops. Why should they have all the fun.
After eating Oreos and Cheerios the least she could have done was offer them some milk.
Margo Spilotras had just finished taking a shower ...around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.>>>
2:30 PM, just getting over her hangover?
In NJ? It takes a long time.
guess they need
http://www.brownielocks.com/daveycrockett.html
Or she was working and just finished. Just because everyone in Sussex is considered a redneck, gun toting, toothless moron we still do have jobs :).
Right. There has been NO enchroachment. This area is done, it's been done for 25+ years. In fact, the back of this woman's property ends at the Pequannock watershed. Same with my back yard. I can walk back in the watershed(starts in my backyard too) for hours, it's miles long and miles wide and is all over this area. Nothing new is or ever likely will be built again in this area.
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Fox News
you think they should've had an intervention for the 100 lbs cub? lol
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