Bear killed after biting man and engaging in “standoff with his dog” in Northern California

A bear was euthanized in Northern California over the weekend, after attacking a man who shot the animal as it engaged in a “standoff with his dog,” authorities said. The incident happened in Calpine, a rural community near Reno that sits on the edge of the Tahoe National Forest in California’s black bear country.

The attack happened on Friday night, the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release shared to Facebook. The Calpine resident told authorties his dog had run off the evening prior after being let outside to go to the bathroom, and the man had then gone outside himself to run after it. While outside, the man said he encountered a bear that emerged suddenly from his neighbor’s property. The bear charged and bit the man several times, according to the sheriff’s office. He sustained bite wounds to his hand, wrist and leg, which required medical treatment but did not require hospitalization. 

After the bear charged and bit him, the man told authorities that he retrieved a shotgun from his home and then returned outside to find the bear engaged in “a standoff with his dog.” Because he feared for the dog’s safety, the man shot the bear, the sheriff’s office said. 

Authorities were able to locate the bear after the man reported the attack on Saturday. It was found wounded but alive, and the animal was subsequently captured and euthanized by officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Officials transported the bear to Sacramento to undergo a necropsy, where its body will also be screened for rabies.

Black bears are the only bear species that currently live in California, with the last grizzly bear sighting in the state being almost a century ago, in 1924, according to the fish and wildlife department. Black bears are found in natural habitats as well as rural and residential areas. 

“Black bears provide many ecosystem benefits by serving as seed dispersers, scavengers, and predators,” wildlife officials write. But their presence can also be a cause for concern, officials note, as some have been known in California and elsewhere to cause property damage, “loss of small livestock or pets” and other safety threats if they become habituated to humans and search for food in areas where people are living. Still, bear attacks on humans are rare.