Black bear euthanized in Wyoming after attempted break-in

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has killed a black bear that was believed to be the subject of several complaints in northwestern Wyoming near Jackson.

Department officials and Teton County deputies responded to a 911 call from a woman on Saturday that a bear was banging on her door and windows trying to break into her home in Kelly, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported.

"Both our game warden and bear biologist responded," department spokesman Mark Gocke said. "But the bear was gone by the time they got there."

The bear was later caught in a culvert trap using bait, sedated an! d shot on Monday, Gocke said. The department decided it was the quickest, most humane method to euthanize the bear.

"It was just not afraid of people at all," Gocke told the Jackson Hole Daily.

The department has received multiple complaints from Kelly residents in the past two weeks about the black bear, including rummaging through trash cans, tearing into a barbecue grill and damaging the woman's door and windows, Gocke said.

The bear was about 5 years old and about 250 pounds (113 kilograms), which is on the thin side, Gocke said, adding that it didn't respond to people's efforts to scare it away.

"Our experience is that when an animal reaches that level of human habituation it's going to continue to seek out human foods," Gocke said.