Wild berries, herbs and ants?

Not for Hank the Tank.

The California black bear, which now weighs more than 200 kilograms, prefers pizza, bread and whatever else is in the refrigerator or pantry.

After more than 40 burglaries by the hungry bear into homes on Lake Tahoe, one of the most popular vacation spots in the western United States, displeasure is spreading among local residents.

"Hank terrorizes us," Wendy Voorsanger, who has lived in South Lake Tahoe for two years, told ABC.

The bear broke into the Californian's home twice.

The first time he tore the front door out of its frame at 2 a.m., the second time he got in through a window after Voorsanger had reinforced the wooden frame of the door with a steel structure.

The problem, she said, is carelessly discarded trash.

Instead of disposing of leftover food and other rubbish in bear-proof containers at various locations in the city, many residents continued to place their bins on the street.

“Hank and the other bears walk through the gardens here almost every day.

They've adapted now and don't even go into hibernation anymore.

The animals find something to eat practically all the time,” says Voorsanger.

In order to drive away the black bears (Ursus americanus), the novelist repeatedly uses air horns or cooking pots and metal ladle.

She has also acquired an electronic watchdog.

As "Hank the Tank" approaches the front door, "Rex" starts barking.

After more than 150 emergency calls from terrified residents, the California Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (CDFW) has run out of patience.

Last weekend alone, "Hank the Tank" hit two apartment buildings in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood.

According to the South Tahoe Police Department, the noticeably fat bear squeezed through the window of a vacant house on Friday.

He only decided to retreat when several officials interrupted his search for food by hitting the walls of the house.

"We want to get the bears back into the woods," police said on Facebook, urging the approximately 25,000 residents of South Lake Tahoe to store food and trash in a locked metal cabinet called a "bear box."

On Saturday, a day later, "Hank the Tank" haunted the nearest house,

An authority tries to catch the bear

Meanwhile, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is trying to catch the bear.

A few weeks ago, the authorities set up a trap, but the bear avoided it.

Before the brown metal box was picked up again, animal rights activists sprayed it with the words "Bear Killer".

In the past, the CDFW had repeatedly announced that "Hank the Tank" might be put to sleep.

A bear that has become too used to humans cannot be released into the wild.

"If you leave him in the wild, he'll starve to death because he's forgotten how to hunt for food.

He would die slowly and painfully,” CDFW spokesman Peter Tira recalled of the so-called Safeway Bear in 2020.

The animal, also weighing more than 200 kilograms, was caught in Kings Beach on the north shore of Lake Tahoe after repeatedly looting supermarkets and gas stations.

The Department of Fisheries and Wildlife later released the black bear into the pine forests of El Dorado County.

A few months later, the Safeway Bear was shot and killed while starving for food at a campground in neighboring Alpine.

For decades, animal rights activists in California have accused the authorities of constantly reducing the habitat of the state's approximately 30,000 to 40,000 black bears through colonization.

In addition, the unusually large wildfires of recent years have further limited the habitat of the bears.

The Bear League organization is now looking for an animal sanctuary that will house "Hank the Tank".

"We have to find a way to live with him," demanded Ann Bryant, the club's spokeswoman.

"The bear is only doing what we have trained it to do."