A mama black bear is spared after injuring a woman in her Pine Mountain Club home. The bear and three cubs were foraging inside the home for food last month, and an elderly woman clanked on pans to scare them off. The mother bear slashed the woman’s arm before leaving and they were all later captured. However, the adult bear is not going to be euthanized after the Oakland Zoo agreed to take the sow and her three cubs. State Fish and Wildlife says policy requires bears that become too familiar with people be put down, but these bears were sent this week to Oakland to be part of a new exhibit on native species. It’s believed to be the first time a public safety animal has not been put down.

Sean Michael Lisle