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MORAN INCIDENT Nuisance bear killed after threat to homes Animal tries to break into several houses JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - A black bear that tried to get into several houses in Moran has been trapped and killed, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Residents said the bear went from house to house trying to break through windows and doors Sunday night. The bear first went to the Gira home on Buffalo Run. A teenager at the home called the Teton County Sheriff's Department. Deputy Gene Ferrin arrived and learned that the bear had broken a window. Later, the bear charged Ferrin, who fired at the animal and missed, scaring it away. A few minutes later, at about 11:30 p.m., the bear roamed to a neighbor's home and tried persistently to break in. "It was like a Grizzly Adams movie," Amanda Pinkerton said. "It was really wild. It was fascinating, but scary." The bear walked around each side of the house trying to break in, she said. It stood on its hind legs and put its paws against the glass. After hitting every glass window it could, the bear clawed through an unprotected screen. Pinkerton's husband, Ned, gave the bear a dose of pepper spray, which turned the animal away. "If we didn't have that pepper spray, he would have come right in the house," Amanda Pinkerton said. Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said they killed the bear on Monday because it had apparently become dangerously accustomed to people. The bear had been roaming the neighborhood for some time, according to Game and Fish Spokesman Mark Gocke. Bears frequent the Moran area each year and are attracted to homes by food, garbage, horse feed, bird seed or anything with a strong scent, Gocke said. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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