People Who Feed Wildlife...

 A 500-pound black bear on Tahoe's South Shore has been sentenced to death because it has broken into numerous homes, including homes that had people in them.

Why has this bear become such a nuisance? Because it became habituated to human-supplied food. This can happen because the bear found dumpsters and garbage cans to raid. But it's also likely that humans simply fed it out of misguided notions.

All locals have heard stories of "the guy down the street" who puts out dog food for the bears. Maybe he wants to take photos of the bears up close. Or maybe, like one person we know, he just "loves seeing bears so much."

As a result, many homes and cabins have been damaged, and some have been destroyed by bears who are looking for food in the fridge.

All the love for bears comes from a good place, but it puts the Forest Service in a very bad place. They made the difficult decision to put the bear down to eliminate any further danger to people.

The attraction of wildlife stems largely from the fact that it is wild. Feed it, and it is no longer wild.

When your vacation home or car is ruined, thank the people who fed the bear and taught it that houses and cars are the best place to find food.

Let's learn to love wildlife in the wild. Take your camera on photo-hunting trips. Don't set it up on a tripod next to the dog food in your open garage.