Orphaned bear cub found with mom’s dead body in hunter’s truck, MA cops say

An orphaned bear cub was found standing in a hunter’s truck next to the body of its mother that was illegally hunted outside of bear season in Massachusetts, state environmental police said.

A second bear cub was found nearby.

Now, the hunter, who wasn’t publicly named, faces several criminal charges after telling officials they killed the mother bear with a bow and arrow while it fed on birdseed in their backyard, according to Massachusetts Environmental Police’s Jan. 26 news release.

Initially, the hunter reported the bear’s death on the Monday after bear season closed in Ashburnham and “indicated they did not realize the season had closed” in late 2021, the agency said.

This led officers to find the two orphaned cubs and the mother bear’s body when they arrived at the hunter’s home.

During an investigation, authorities said they found the hunter tried to “have the bear illegally processed” by a butcher in New Hampshire the same day they reported the large mammal’s death.

The hunter is accused of lying to the butcher by saying they hunted the bear on the final day of bear season, according to environmental police.

“However, the butcher determined the bear had been killed that day and not on the day the individual originally claimed,” the news release said, adding that the butcher wouldn’t process it and alerted New Hampshire Fish and Game.

Then, “the suspect ultimately admitted” to killing the mother bear found in their backyard, police said.

As a result, their weapon was seized as well as the bear, which was donated to a local hunting club.

The hunter faces these criminal charges, according to authorities:

• Illegal taking of black bear

• Hunt, closed season

• Illegal hunting of bear in a baited area

• Discharge of an arrow within 150 feet of a roadway

• Multiple counts of hunting within 500 feet of dwelling in use

• Falsifying harvest report data

• Export out of state illegally taken bear

Ashburnham is about 56 miles west of Boston.

This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Orphaned bear cub found with mom’s dead body in hunter’s truck, MA cops say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.