Feed the bears: Get kicked out of your house for three years

[Oggie]

Strange story:

NEWPORT - A Yachats woman in court for feeding the bears was ordered this morning to leave her property and stay away from neighboring properties for three years.

Judge Thomas Branford ordered Karen Noyes, 61, to leave her home on Yachats River Road by Aug. 31, as a special condition of her sentence of three years probation for chasing and harassing wildlife. Noyes must also stay away from a seven-mile stretch of the road for the duration of her probation.

In sentencing Noyes, Branford spoke for more than 30 minutes, calling her behavior stunning and offensive.

"I couldn't agree more with the jury's verdict," Branford said. "I commend you for loving the animals ... It's not enough to love. You have to love the right way and you still haven't. Bears are not your pets to do with as you please."

Noyes was cited for feeding the bears last year after she called the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife seeking help in getting rid of the bears. Witnesses for the state testified that Noyes had been warned to stop feeding the bears as early as 2003 but refused to listen.


Karen Noyes, above, was convicted of harassing wildlife.During the Noyes trial, neighbors testified they'd become frightened to walk outside their homes because her feeding had attracted so many animals. One woman told of awaking to find a bear coming through the dog door. Another said a bear had wiped out a flock of 60 endangered farm birds.

The rest at: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index...sentenced.html

[Wisconsin Ann]

wow...what's with all the nutcases lately? After the government guys, the neighbors, and other testified that she'd been warned not to feed the wildlife...she still says "I have never been warned about feeding the bears. Ever. He is convinced I was. None of my neighbors ever warned me. Not once."

I suppose they felt that she would just continue to feed the wildlife if she was in her home. Kind of like moving a pedophile away from temptation.

oh...here's a goody from a previous article "[Fish and Game] have made up their minds that bears are dangerous." um....golly. ya think? Even the guys that train bears warn that they're wild animals and are dangerous.

Strange story, Oggie. Where DO you find them?

[Narshalla]

This is up in my neck of the woods! She a looney, all right, she was feeding the bears in the time leading up to the trial!

Hey, lady, you might go to jail for this, it's probably time to stop!

Oh, yeah, and she says that they are in no way dangerous . . . . Why, then, did she call for help when one got too aggressive? After all, they wouldn't actually hurt anyone or anything, would they?

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by Wisconsin Ann

wow...what's with all the nutcases lately?

They have always been there, you just never heard about them so readily until the magical internet.

[Little Quacker in OR]

I had a good friend who for many years fed the local bears around her plave out in Crow, ORegon..just across the valley from me. I have Xmas Cards showing her and her hubby nose up against a bear. They had her Sliding Glass doors shattered one early morning by a large male bear terrified and trying to escape a female coming to the deck with cubs.

I tried and tried to get her to stop this telling her how dangerous this made these bears to other people around her. She never did, She has passed on now and I miss her but I don't miss having to thread my way through bears to get up to her door!


There is a stupid TV program on Animal Planet now that talks about "A Stranger Among Bears" and shows a twit and his twit crew interfering with and mucking about with bears. Same thing. Why this network does these idiot things I don't know. I wrote them a letter but I don't suppose they will stop it. It's the bears that suffer in the end as they are now used to being fed by humans and have lost their fear of them. Many of them will have to be shot.

LQ

[snowshoehair]

Feeding bears also makes them less wary of humans and they, therefore, spend more time in populated areas looking for food. Doesn't do the bears any favors when they learn to walk up to humans looking for that "pic-a-nic basket"... it just gets them dead.

We have a guy up here in central Alaska that's been doing this for the longest time. I think the authorities blew it off for too long cuz he lives way in the boonies... but he's starting to attract news people and just plain curious types. This guy rubs noses with blackies and the grizzlies... he's just beginning to admit that they do frighten him and have injured him.

DUH!

[Old Vet]

I live in an area that problem bears are brought to get them out of the way from other humans. It is just a way to keep other people from shooting one that came in and raided the freezer and ate most of what he found. he wears a red tag and if I ever saw one I would shoot it because some people find it pleasurable to feed them.I once had a guest that tried to feed one and he was asked to leave.

[MTNwomanAR]

I just DO not understand people like this....I live out in the wild, and have bears come up all the time, but I don't feed them, nor do I ever plan to have one as a pet.... I keep my distance and they keep theirs....

[Murray in ME]

The woman is not only a nut but is creating a danger not only to herself but to her neighbors and the bears. That being said though, ordering her away from her home and a seven mile stretch of road for three years makes no sense to me either. Toss her in jail for a while or hit her with a fine big enough to make it hurt instead. If she is going to continue doing stupid things like feeding bears, I'm guessing she will probably do it where ever she is living. Not just at the home she was living in. Unless they force her to get an appartment in the city where there aren't a lot of bears to feed, this doesn't fix the problem. It just moves it to a different location. I've never been to Oregon (although I'd like to someday) but I'm guessing this particular 7 mile stretch of road isn't the only place in the state where bears live.

[salmonslayer]

Snoshoehair, is that the guy that was just indicted?

Anybody know what could have been the flock of endangered farm birds?

[Jenn]

It's like feeding gators or on the gulf sharks here. If I ever see someone dumping their fish cleanings off the dock I'll get them fined quick as a heartbeat- I and my kids swim and kayak in those waters! And best of all get them banned from fishing....

[LisaInN.Idaho]

Originally Posted by Little Quacker in OR

. It's the bears that suffer in the end as they are now used to being fed by humans and have lost their fear of them. Many of them will have to be shot.

LQ

Yup. We had a grizzly in our area that had to be shot because a nitwit photographer was baiting him in to take pictures of him.

[Wolf mom]

I can understand the point about the bears, but what I think is most appalling that no one seems to blink when the judge says she is NOT ALLOWED to go near HER HOUSE for 3 years.

I wonder if that wouldn't be overturned by a higher court. Aren't there any alternatives??

Put yourself in that position. Think of the cost. Maybe rent out your house. Would you really want to do that?

[TurnerHill]

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

I can understand the point about the bears, but what I think is most appalling that no one seems to blink when the judge says she is NOT ALLOWED to go near HER HOUSE for 3 years.

I wonder if that wouldn't be overturned by a higher court. Aren't there any alternatives??

Put yourself in that position. Think of the cost. Maybe rent out your house. Would you really want to do that?

That's actually not true. She is agreeing not to live in her house as a condition of being granted her suspended sentence. She could choose to do the time, instead.

This isn't unusual. People are often required to do things like attend AA, or anger management, or hold a job for a certain number of hours a week, or any number of other things the government wouldn't normally have the right to require, as part of a deal to avoid jail.

[HorseFeatherz]

She needs to be sentenced to community service at the zoo - she could feed the bears.

[snowshoehair]

Yep, salmonslayer,his name is Charlie Vandergaw. I've not been following the case too closely but there is lots of info on the net if you google his name. One story here:

http://newsminer.com/news/2009/may/1...ear-haven-man/

[Wolf mom]

Oh, thanks for the correction. Now I understand.

[Murray in ME]

Originally Posted by TurnerHill

That's actually not true. She is agreeing not to live in her house as a condition of being granted her suspended sentence. She could choose to do the time, instead.

This isn't unusual. People are often required to do things like attend AA, or anger management, or hold a job for a certain number of hours a week, or any number of other things the government wouldn't normally have the right to require, as part of a deal to avoid jail.

Now it makes sense. Thanks.