An 81-year old Florida woman was arrested for feeding bears near her home despite several warnings from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) agents.
An 81-year old Florida resident, Mary Musselman, was arrested Wednesday, for violating her probation and feeding bears.
The police arrested her, after several bowls, trays and birdfeeders with corn feed and birdseed were found in her home to feed the bears. She is also being accused of hitting the FWC agents, who came to arrest her.
"I just think it's so heavy handed. Way overdone. I don't think that there was much thought given to her age, her physical, her mental condition," says John Payne, a neighbor of Musselman, reports my foxtampabay.
The FWC agents stated that they had served an earlier warning to Musselman for feeding bears. The tussle between Musselman and FWC began in November last year, after they inspected the area and found a black bear on Musselman's property. "It was coming right up to people," said Gary Morse, the FWC spokesman. The authorities had to euthanize a bear she had been feeding, which upset a lot of conservationists and animal lovers.
According to FWC feeding bears is a misdemeanor under Florida law. Once a bear becomes aggresive there remains no choice other than euthanizing the creature and it becomes extremely difficult to relocate the animal.
The FWC agents made repeated visits in the following months to verify whether Musselman was still feeding the bears. Each time they spotted some or other evidences that indicated Musselman had not been paying heed to any of their warnings.
"Feeding bears results in bears losing their fear of people," said Morse, reports CNN. "After they get used to living around humans and getting food from them, relocating them does not solve the problem. And when bears come too close to people, they do damage -- to property and to people."
In January, Musselman was issued a court notice stating not to feed the bears and violating the law would result in her arrest.
After Musselmans arrest, last week, her students gathered around the house and prayed for their teacher to get released fast.
"She must be released, because her husband is dying of cancer and she's his only caregiver," the students claimed.
