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A 250-pound male black bear was shot and killed in a residential area on County Home Road Wednesday morning. Detective Sergeant Keith Mabe of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said he didn’t want to terminate the animal, but it threatened him.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 10:45 a.m. reporting that a bear had been sighted in a residential area on County Home Road. Sheriff Dale Furr said several deputies responded, and they called U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials in hopes of getting someone with a tranquilizer gun on the scene.
“Deputies spotted the bear in a wooded area right behind some houses, about 40 to 50 yards from where children were playing,” said Furr. “People in this area, especially children, are not used to being around bears. If that bear was to have gone into someone’s yard looking for food or garbage, somebody could have gotten killed.”
When the bear began to move back into the woods - and out of sight - Detective Sergeant Keith Mabe followed it to maintain its location until Wildlife could arrive.
“I stayed there with it to keep an eye on it,” said Mabe. “He stood up twice at about 20 or 30 yards away, and then I lost sight of him. When I regained sight, I don’t know if I was on top of him or he was on top of me.”
Mabe said he didn’t want to terminate the bear, but he felt threatened when the animal stood up on his hind legs directly in front of him.
“He was in an aggressive stance, and I knew that is I didn’t react to him then he would react to me,” said Mabe.
“He was in danger, and he felt the community there was in danger - especially the children,” said Furr.
“I just wanted to stay with him so I could maintain where he was,” said Mabe. “But sometimes our plans don’t work out the way we want them to.”
A USFW official arrived after the bear had been killed. Mabe and another detective pulled the animal out of the woods and sent it on to the USFW outpost in Marston for analysis.
According to Mabe and Furr, the male black bear was approximately six feet tall when standing on his hind legs, and weighed 250 pounds.
“I’ve hunted a lot of things,” said Mabe, who has been with the department for 16 years. “That was a first.”
If we want to live in harmony with nature, we have to stop progress. No one is to blame, it is how nature occurs. Man rules over the animals plain and simple. No one should second guess another man's decision unless they have been in the same situation. Look at what happend to the Vietman Vets when they came home, come on people we have to be compasionate to our own kind (huan beings) before we can be compasionate to the rest of the animal kingdom. And we all have skeletons in our closets. For me, it is my witch's hat hanging there!!!!!
It seems like no matter what the RCSD does to protect and serve us, somebody is going to find fault. I had rather have read Bear Kill By Deputy instead of Deputy Kill By Bear. Some may say the bear was harmless, but bears to me are not considered your everyday pet.
Those of you that think Mr. Mabe is an idiot, maybe you don't know him very well. I don't believe one who attends classes as well as teaches them are considered idiots. He is certified in many things.
Thanks to all our Law Enforcement Offices of Richmond County for a job well done.
Maybe if Mr. Mabe would have had some bit-of-honey with him, he could have handcuffed the bear and held it until the authorities got there.
not a villian and what happened i think was juss an accident gone wrong it was in peoples back yard and noone wants a bear in there yard!
the sheriffs department is not to blame!its there responsibilitie to take care of richmond county:)!!i mean think about it if there was a bear in the yard with your kids what whould u do u would try to keep it away!:)
so dont blame THE BEAR!!!
1. He is a sargeant dectective. Don't dectectives normally investigate crimes, why was he out on patrol when the bear call came in? Or was he?
2. According to the RCDJ the bear was shot with a shotgun? Do sargeant dectectives normally carry loaded and ready to use shotguns with them to investigate crime scenes and incidents? I thought the gun on their person would suffice.
There are a few things that make it look like the sargeant dectective heard the call and the hunter took over. just curious.
“Deputies spotted the bear in a wooded area right behind some houses, about 40 to 50 yards from where children were playing,”
READ THE ABOVE QUOTE. THAT IS THE MAIN POINT!
I was born and raised in Richmond County. Been here my entire life. I love my home and my town and have NEVER in 45 years written into the newspaper or anywhere else for that matter with a complaint. This was an exception. Say what you will, it doesn't change the fact that this was not handled correctly. Of course, no one but Mr. Mabe will ever know exactly what went on in those woods but as I said earlier, there is no way he lost sight of this 250lb bear and it suddenly appeared "on top of him". It does sound like he either got scared when the bear was too close for his comfort and shot or as someone stated earlier, the hunter came out in him and he was thrilled at the prospect of shooting a bear. In my earlier comment I did say that I was furious, which I am sure prompted the hillbilly remark that I made. I apologize for that. I do not however, need an invitation from you to leave. Citizens are entitled to have opinions and this is mine. If YOU don't like hearing them perhaps you should be the one to leave.
The bear is dead. That is unfortunate. But, I get the feeling some people are never happy with anything that goes on in Richmond County.
It is never good for a living thing to be killed -but put things in perspective. Would you have rather a person die than the bear?