Bear League leader charged with misdemeanors

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000 | 9:02 a.m.

Ann Bryant, director of the Lake Tahoe-based Bear League, claims she's being punished for publicly criticizing the California Department of Fish and Game.

But a Fish and Game official said Bryant is being prosecuted for illegally seizing a wild animal despite warnings not to do so.

"It was a violation," Fish and Game Capt. Ken Nilsson told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I said, 'don't do it, don't do it,' and explained all the reasons why. She went ahead and did it."

The incident occurred last March, after employees at Squaw Valley USA told Bryant of a black bear cub that was begging for food at a resort barbecue area. Convinced that the cub couldn't be successfully chased away, Bryant said she decided to take the abandoned and underweight animal to shelter at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care in South Lake Tahoe.

Bryant discussed the matter with Nilsson by telephone and acknowledges being told to leave the bear alone. She said she intervened anyway, convinced the cub would surely die otherwise.

Fish and Game subsequently took the bear to its offices in Rancho Cordova, Calif. After a recovery period it was shipped to an animal orphanage in Texas, where the animal now lives.

Bryant said she believed she was operating under a California regulation that allowed efforts to rehabilitate abandoned cubs. Nilsson counters that policy was only a proposal at the time and that Bryant misinterpreted it.

Bryan was charged in California's Placer County with two misdemeanors, unlawful taking and possession of a wild animal. A Dec. 5 court date is scheduled. Each complaint carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Last September, Bryant lashed out at the department for allegedly killing the wrong bear during a search for a different one that had trashed several homes during food raids.

Bryant claims she's being singled out for bad publicity she's brought the department.

Nilsson said Bryant is being treated no differently than anyone else who violates the state's wildlife laws and that the complaints should come as no surprise.

The cub may have died if left alone but Bryant sealed its fate to life in captivity, he said.

"If that bear had a chance of being a wild bear she took it away when she snatched it," Nilsson said.