Tragic fate of beloved Mammoth Lakes bear sparks outrage, questions 

People need to stop treating wildlife like a Disney movie!

"They walked with him, they hung out with him". What! A bear is not a poodle. People made the bear lose his natural fear and aversion to humans. Avoid bears for the bears and humans benefit.

Given polucy and the prioritization of human safety, All the people who tolerated and encouraged Victor and tried to turn him into a pet celebrity of sorts were who got him killed. If everyone had badgered him and made him afraid of humans by scaring him ofg consistently , this would never have happened.

if you're afraid of wildlife, what're you doing there? It's their home, not yours

It's because of them that the bear lost his life .

There was a similar story here this summer in the Adirondack mountains of NY in the town of Wells where a black bear sow and her 3 cubs were all put down by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation because people were following the bears around, feeding the bears, taking selfies with the bears to the point the bears lost their fear of people. Once a bear loses their fear of humans then they can become a danger to humans. I live in the Adirondack mountains here in NY, have for 40 years and bears are a way of life. They're on my land, and I see them or their sign all the time. I'm not afraid of them but I respect them immensely. Don't try to get photos of them, don't try to get close to them, keep the food and garbage picked up and they will leave you alone and they won't get used to your presence too much. I've had bears come through my yard occasionally, this year there's a small male hanging around, but he hasn't become a nuisance, he's eaten a couple of deer so far that I know and he's been going to some local apple trees. But I make sure my garbage goes to the dump as fast as i can get it there and I don't leave anything outside. When he came in the yard about 50 yards to the house, he marked his territory, so I poured vinegar on it, he hasn't been back since in the yard, he keeps to the woods. It's no different than these idiot tourists in Yellowstone walking up to a bison, far too many people think nature and wildlife is a like a Disney movie and they're going to break into song and be our friends.

I understand that this is the approach usually taken when dealing with wildlife. But they should have considered relocating him to some other remote part of the state instead of putting him down. Or even possibly admitting in some sort of program or rescue. Seems unnecessary to me.

I truly hope they get fined

Thank you so much for bringing this important story to the light. Treatment of Victor and his life is a symbol of where we are as human races on this planet. So grateful for the local tribe to hold a ceremony to honor his sacred spirit.

@ 2: 33, "What can we learn from this, is there something we can do better" - Here's what we can learn from this: This TikTok clown purposely sought out this well-known, nonaggressive bear in its home habitat then staged someone to come into close proximity to it, trying to elicit some drama, excitement and a cheap thrill for his video, and in the process, dooming the bear. Then used the video to get one hundred thirty-five thousand views...... sad.

People are in their territory it is on us not the bear!!!

this week we have three momma bears with cubs, two juveniles, and one female in our mountain town in BC Canada. They come down from the mountains and I believe it's for safety: the large boar bears will kill the cubs and smaller bears in their last feeding frenzy before winter. Also this year, everything is late by a month including the critical Huckleberry (yes, it's not a cartoon) crop. In a week they'll all be heading up another 1,000 to 2,000 feet. Be safe little bears. (we dont' collect trash in our town and we pull the apples off the trees in August.

ya, wildlife are not pets. you go to the woods , you are not the top of the food chain. thats why you treat wildlife as wildlife, and always carry a gun. otherwise stay home.

That person was not acting at all scared. They were standing within easy reach of Victor video taping him. They made no attempt to getaway. Victor could have easily killed them. He swiped the leg and walked away. That person should be fined.

Conservation shot a bear in our Canadian town that was obviously NOT going to make winter hibernation in the condition necessary. My neighbour (a complete idiot) attracked the bear by dumping grass clippings, leaving trash, and yes, he was also fined. An evaluation is made that covers all conditions. In this case, Conservation California missed the mark on several points: FINE the idiots, and respect the bear. Even if shot, the bear needed a proper handling out of respect for years of trouble free behaviour.

More people need to learn about Steve Searles and his work.

He doesn't have a name, it's not Yogi the Bear... The people caused his death, and Bears don't bury other bears, in fact, they eat other bears... ALIVE!

Let wildlife out of social media and they’ll be safe

When a campground bear learns to eat human food, you cannot relocate it. It’ll only come back to some human habitation area and do the same exact thing. CDF&G had to make a very difficult choice. I’m sure it was no fun for them but humans love to get too close to bears and love to feed them and don’t listen to the bumper sticker for MAMMOTH. Don’t feed our bears! The bear was not named Victor. He’s a brown black bear giving him a human name only serves to make it more probable humans will approach him. I think they should’ve taxidermied him and put him beside the big expensive sign they made as you enter Mammoth Lakes” the mountains are calling”. The mountains are calling stupid humans that don’t know how to live with wildlife and it’s not the mountains. It’s the Chamber of Commerce calling.😢😊

Shame on you fish and game your total P.O.S. for this and that stupid lady who got this bear killed BUNCH OF MURDERS that bear was the Nicest bear I ever meet

Yes, I agree with some other writers. This story is about humans causing the death of a bear. We need to leave wildlife alone. We need to keep our distance. We need to discourage them from coming around. We need to do everything in our power to help them just be bears.

Wild animals cannot be domesticated and will eventually act on instinct to the detriment of those foolish enough not to understand this simple truth.

Yt/ google, irresponsible folks who treated victor assa pet, the partying campers who had to ave a video for yt, at victors xpense ...The habitat is the bears territory..Not irresponsible humans who had to get likes....smh Theres alot of blame to go around for this great bears demise...Dont pal or feed the bears or try n getta yt/ instagram ,fb vid for likes Give em there space, bears will returm the favor !! Give thanx to the tribe who have victor the respect he deserved..

Bear season opens up Saturday in most of California

I am so sad

The whole thing is ridiculous the bears are getting human habituated in popular areas food habituated, look at Yosemite it’s like going to Disneyland there’s too many people too easily accessible, the wilderness areas should be hard to get into but unfortunately you drive up to a giant parking lot with hundreds of campsites everyone from the city that knows nothing about the wild is out there barbecuing cooking their meals etc. in my area we have some beautiful wild country but there’s one area in particular and it’s so gorgeous and it’s absolute bear habitat but you get all these people coming in bringing their guns drinking alcohol barbecuing and not following the rules, most of these bears die and don’t live a full life because of this reason.

What can we learn from this?? Are you a reporter, or journalist??? What I gave learned: That not following the campground rules regarding wildlife interaction (government), there are apparently no consequences for the human violators. That the wildlife apparently enforces immediate judgement soon as possible, fish and game management (government) consequences, for the negative interactions. The principle enforcement consequence being elimination of said wildlife. That government does not respect laws of nature. That in fact the government wants to regulate nature, no matter the outcome. That laws and regulations are created by man. Unfortunately, not well enforced by man. That laws of nature are enforced by nature. That fortunately, there are some humans who understand and respect the laws of nature, and impending consequences, and grieve for the government inflicted losses. That government fish and game regulations, bears can not read, or follow.

instead of removing the bear - maybe we can stop with all the ads for people to visit the lake. It's bear country - it's for them - we don't need to be there. It seems they care more about money than the 'nature' that they market is the reason for going there in the first place

What did you expect from gubmint workers???

It was a case of sloppy campers and poor enforcement over time. It disgusts me every time we stop there.

Reminds me of the walrus. Absolutely not fair or right. It's sad, too, that it seems Native Americans are the only ones who respect wildlife. We all should. People suck.

Terrible!

Stay out of the woods...

Live wildlife life alone for fucksake. View from a distance only.

From a wildlife management posision it comes down to liability and law suits. Yes, It could have been handled differently.

Shame

Doesn't matter lady. Get right with God and understand his creation. It's real easy to find a King James Bible on a app on your phone. Start with John then Paul's epistle to the Romans. The day we elevate apex predators over a terrified woman we have lost our way.

🙏

Read the Book “WHAT THE BEARS KNOW” How I found truth and magic in America’s most misunderstood creatures Author: Steve Searles and Chris Erskine

I am shocked that an LA Times reporter (used to be elite) would do a bear story in Mammoth Lakes without contacting Steve Searles. Searles was hired probably 20 years ago to manage the bears. There is something else going on here. His comment was the one you saw about the disrespect FWL showed.

RFK?Keep your head on swivel around him.

Anyone got eyes on RFK during all this?