Marauding Bears Killed

National parks

Four black bears, including a sow and two cubs, had to be destroyed at Yosemite National Park recently because they repeatedly broke into cars and threatened people.

“Occasionally some bears get so habitually used to people, they would break into cars whether there’s food or not,” spokesman Kendell Thompson said. “They lose their natural fear of people and they have to be destroyed.”

Thompson said the two cubs had to be killed along with their mother because the bears often teach their young new habits like breaking into cars looking for food.

Bears in Yosemite have caused more than $500,000 in property damage this year, the National Park Service reported. But the main fear is that they will hurt someone.

The black bears, which are native to the Sierra Nevada, can get as big as 350 pounds, Thompson said. They typically catch the front car windshields with their claws and try to peel them open.

“People don’t know how smart these bears are,” he said. “Last year, a bear learned that if it hit a certain model car in a certain place, the trunk would open.

“It went around looking for that type of a car. … It had to be destroyed in the end.”