Northern California man pleads guilty to taking 2 baby bears from their den

This undated photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife shows two rescued bear cubs. California wildlife officials say a Northern California man who admitted to taking the two bear cubs from their den in 2019 and notified offici SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A Northern California man who admitted to taking two bear cubs from their den and notified officials after he was unable to care for them pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited species, wildlife officials said.Cody Dylon Setzer, 29, and a co-worker who has not been identified and cooperated with authorities took the month-old bears from their den in a tree that had fallen across a forest road, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday.Setzer contacted wildlife officers on March 9, 2019, and told them he had found the baby bears along Highway 263 north of Yreka in Siskiyou County, the department said.But wildlife officers became suspicious of his story after they went out to the site and found no bear tracks or habitat."Bear cubs are 100% dependent upon the sow and if they had been wondering on their own they wouldn’t have survived," said Capt.

Patrick Foy of the department’s law enforcement division.Setzer’s co-worker at a timber management company confessed to wildlife offices and cooperated with the investigation, Foy said."The other person literally brought them back to the den site," he said.Watch: Trailcam spots python defending eggs from hungry bobcatThe den site was located east of Salt Creek and Interstate 5 in Shasta County, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of where Setzer said he had found them and had been destroyed.