Mammoth’s Wildlife man, police, fish and game, the forest service and cabin owners in the Lake Mary tract fretted over a bear that in the end had broken into 19 cabins in search of food. Yesterday, police, at the behest of cabin owners, destroyed the bear.

For weeks, bureaucrats debated who should deal with the problem bear. As they dithered, the bear broke into cabins. Finally, forest officials said it was up to Fish and Game. Their bureaucrats said the cabin owners should get a depredation permit to destroy the bear breaking into their homes.

Mammoth Police Chief Dan Watson issued a press release late yesterday. He said that Mammoth Police responded to reports that a bear was actively breaking into cabins in the Lake Mary Cabin Tract. That was just after noon. When police arrived, Chief Watson said, Town Wildlife Management Specialist Steve Searles was “following the animal and confirmed it was the light colored three-year-old female bear with dark feet and face that had been identified as responsible for at least 19 building entries in the Lakes Basin area.”

Chief Watson said a Lakes Basin cabin owner had obtained a depredation permit from Fish and Game for that bear. Fish and Game and the Forest Service authorized the police department to act as the depredation permitee’s agent. Chief Watson said that meant authorization for “members of the police department to take the bear authorized by the depredation permit.”

Chief Watson said that when mammoth police arrived on the scene and “positively identified the bear as the same one named on the permit, the animal was put down.” The bear’s body was turned over to Fish and Game for study and disposal.