From the Times News of May 16, 2008
Man shoots bear in backyard
David Jenkins woke Wednesday morning to the barking of his dog, Sammy. He soon discovered the cause of the commotion — a black bear in the backyard of his Henderson County home.
Jenkins said he grabbed his shotgun for protection. He told his wife to stay in the house as he went to try to scare the bear and rescue his dog.
“The bear was standing up on his hind legs and I knew it was going to kill my dog. ... I had to do something,” Jenkins said.
After an attempt to scare off the bear failed, Jenkins said he knew he had to protect his dog and himself.
So Jenkins fired his shotgun in the direction of the bear. The shot hit the bear.
“The bear started to wander off and I didn’t want to leave a wounded bear wandering around the neighborhood,” he said. “So I followed the bear and shot him again.”
Jenkins said he immediately alerted the local game warden about what happened. He said a biologist came to his house first and extracted a tooth from the bear to determine its age.
Jenkins said the black bear was about 2 years old. It weighed about 250 pounds, he said.
“When the game warden arrived he said that I was fully justified in the shooting because I had attempted to scare the bear away before firing my first shot,” he said. “It was a very unfortunate situation.”
Times-News efforts to contact Henderson County authorities with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission were unsuccessful Thursday.
Jenkins said he has never seen a bear in his neighborhood off Howard Gap Road, though he has seen deer, coyote and wild turkeys.
“I was scared to death of the thing,” he said.
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