For months, a mean black bear in Patrice Miller’s small town in Northern California had been bothering her. Finally, last year, the bear broke into her house and killed her.
When police first found Miller’s body in her Downieville home in November, it was badly damaged and partly eaten. At first, they thought she may have died of natural causes and the bear had broken in because it liked the smell.
But, according to the Sacramento Bee, her neighbors said they saw the bear, which she called “Big B—ard,” coming back to her house over and over again.
The newspaper said Miller put steel bars across her windows to try to keep the bear out before it broke down her door.
Miller was killed by a black bear in California, which is the first known case of a fatal attack.
Miller was killed by a black bear in California, which is the first known case of a fatal attack.
The small mountain town is “right in the middle of where bears like to be,” a Fish and Wildlife official in the North-Central region of California told the newspaper.
Cassie Koch, Miller’s friend who first asked the Bee to check on her, said, “When I was a kid, you never saw a bear in town.” They’re now all over and making their way around. They have an easy time of it.”
Koch said Miller had asked that the bear be taken away without hurting it before it killed her.
Koch told the newspaper that Miller had a vegetable garden and compost and that she didn’t always throw away her trash right away, which is what the police say could have brought the bear to her house.
The paper says that about 40% of California’s 65,000 black bears live in the Sierra Nevadas, which is where Downieville is.
The bear was finally caught and put down.
Source: Fox News
