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This ninny baited a bear into a residential neighborhood!

http://www.whtm.com/news/stories/1109/681100.html

Hunter Charged with Baiting Bear11/23/09 6:38 pm | reporter: Ali Lanyon producer: Myles Snyder

Game Commission Hunting for Roaming Bear
Harrisburg, Pa. - There's been a black bear roaming neighborhoods in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County for a few weeks and now officers with the Pennsylvania Game Commission say they might know why.

Officers received a tip Monday morning that someone was baiting a bear on the property of Shade's Nursery on Colonial Club Drive. When they arrived on the scene, they say they saw socks filled with peanut butter and bacon hanging from tree limbs. They say they also saw rotten apples scattered on the ground.

About 30 yards away, officers said they discovered 49-year-old Daniel Conner sitting in a camoflauge tent with a loaded rifle.
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Officer Mike Doherty said Conner admitted he'd been feeding the bear for weeks to keep it in the area. Conner's goal, Doherty said, was to kill the bear on the first day of bear season. Pennsylvania's bear season began Monday.

Conner told officers he is related to the owner of the nursery, Doherty said.

"There is nothing wrong with a hunter taking a bear in fair chase, lawfully harvested," Doherty said. "But seeing a bear killed like this is an affront to every law abiding hunter in Pennsylvania and everybody who cares about wildlife."

Doherty said he believes Conner's efforts may have kept the bear away from his trap, which is set a few miles away. "This is especially frustrating for me because I've been trying to trap this bear for the last couple of weeks and their baiting of this bear for the purpose of killing it interfered," Doherty said.

Conner was charged with hunting a bear by use of bait and not wearing the required orange clothing. He could face a $375 fine.

Conner had no comment. Shade's Nursery was closed and owners could not be reached for comment.

"That sounds pretty irresponsible if you're keeping the bear around the neighborhood here, especially with the children we have," said neighbor Mike Wagner. "I think it's not a very smart thing to do."

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index. ... ng_wa.html

Man accused of bear baiting was unfair to the animal and neighborhood, residents say
By BARBARA MILLER, The Patriot-News
November 25, 2009, 12:00AM

A large black bear recently spent several evenings visiting backyards in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County.
Having spent weeks on the lookout for a bear in her yard, Danielle Wylie of Lower Paxton Township doesn’t like the idea that someone was feeding it to keep it there for hunting season.

“I don’t think it’s fair to the neighborhood, to have this guy baiting this bear and keeping it in the neighborhood,” said Wylie, who lives in the Goose Valley Lake development, a residential neighborhood near Linglestown and Interstate 81.

“For the first couple of days, we couldn’t go out of the house. We were constantly looking around in the dark. The kids would dart to the car to make sure the bear wasn’t there,” she said. “Now we can rest a little easier, knowing that it will be going away.”

While the bear didn’t bother anyone, Wylie said, “It’s been stressful, when you have a 500-pound bear walking around in the backyard.”

The Pennsylvania Game Commission issued citations Monday to Daniel Conner, 49, of Hummelstown, alleging he was hunting with bait and wasn’t wearing the required orange, Officer Mike Doherty said. Conner had been feeding the bear peanut butter, bacon and apples, Doherty said.

Lower Paxton Township police Lt. Gary Seefeldt said he is discussing with the district attorney’s office whether criminal charges could be filed against Conner.

The $300 fine levied by the Game Commission doesn’t seem like enough punishment, Seefeldt said. “Peoples’ lives were turned upside down for a while with him keeping the bear in that area,” Seefeldt said, adding police were getting calls almost every day for two to three weeks.

A charge of reckless endangerment is an option, but they would have to prove the public was in danger, Seefeldt said. Lower Paxton Township doesn’t have a law against discharging a firearm, Seefeldt said, and Conner didn’t fire at the bear.

Had Conner killed the bear, the fine would have been close to $2,000, Doherty said, adding the commission didn’t want to wait for him to do so.

When contacted by phone on Tuesday, Conner said he had no comment.

At Shade’s Nursery on Country Club Drive, where Doherty said Conner was found Monday dressed in camouflage in a camo tent, a man who said he was the owner said he was advised not to speak about the incident. Monday was the first day of bear season.

The baiting is “not fair to the wildlife community. All the animals, they were here before us, and there are rules and regulations pertaining to hunting, and he didn’t stick to them,” Wylie said.

Theresa Nickle, one of Wylie’s neighbors, said she found the bear in her driveway and after her trash the evening of Nov. 5, and was afraid to get out of her car to go inside.

“I won’t feel safe until it’s actually caught,” Nickle said, adding she isn’t letting her grandchildren play in her backyard because of the bear.

Doherty said he’s trying to trap the bear near the border of Susquehanna and Lower Paxton townships to take it back to its habitat in the mountains. A Lower Paxton Township police officer estimated the bear to weigh 500 to 600 pounds.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the bear had not been caught, and Doherty said it might move north on its own, not only because it’s no longer being fed, but because another bear in the Fishing Creek area has been moved away. Doherty believes the second bear in Fishing Creek might have driven this one south.

Doherty said the Game Commission wants to get the bear out of the area for its own safety, “not because we’re worried about it threatening people.” “All this guy wants is to find an easy meal and a quiet place to curl up,” he said.

Seefeldt said police deal with a bear wandering down from the mountains almost every year.

“We keep building houses in their backyard and get mad when the bears are seen. Normally, they will leave you alone, but this one was staying around for a reason,” Seefeldt said.