Northern California Man Shoots Mother Bear, Tries to Sell Her Cubs

On up in Gold Country, in the teeny town of North San Juan in Nevada County, a dude with approximately one tooth in his head named Chris Pruett killed a mother bear and then attempted to sell her two orphaned cubs on the side of the road near a gas station. Pruett's story was picked up by LAist after police were called on Wednesday, and now it's been picked up nationally, on Gawker, in the New York Post, and elsewhere.

Pruett claims that the mother bear had repeatedly shown up on his property, stealing food over the course of several consecutive nights, and that he shot her in self-defense when she tried to charge him. He then claims she ran off into the woods, abandoning the two defenseless cubs ? a male and a female weighing in at 11 and 13 pounds.

Authorities don't think the story adds up, and they are still attempting to locate the mother bear's body.

The cubs are being cared for now at a facility in Rancho Cordova and will ultimately be tagged and released into a den next winter. Pruett claims he's happy that the cubs are being cared for by professionals, and now says that's what he was "after in the first place." He still could be charged with a felony for trafficking in black bear parts.

[LAist]
[NY Post]

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