Featured
New Mexico man shoots and kills bear that broke into his camper
Published
Modified
Lapel video shows Game and Fish officers retrieving a dead bear from a camper near Hermit's Peak after the homeowner killed it last month.
Source: Department of Game and FishHunting season came early for one northern New Mexico man.
On July 12, Calvin Stoddard was sleeping inside his camper near Hermit鈥檚 Peak when a black bear busted through the screen door close to midnight.
Abruptly awakened, Stoddard turned on a light to see the large omnivore sifting through the 64-year-old鈥檚 belongings.
Stoddard grabbed a bolt-action rifle and shot the bear, killing it. The next day, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish showed up to investigate.
鈥淏ear came in and I (expletive) killed it,鈥� Stoddard told Game and Fish when officers asked what happened. 鈥淗e woke me up鈥� and I turned on the spotlight and there he is.鈥�
鈥淕rabbed my gun and shot the son of a (expletive).鈥�
When the officers entered the camper, along N.M. 65 near El Porvenir, they were greeted by a dead black bear in the kitchen, lying in a pool of blood, as seen in an officer鈥檚 body camera footage. Stoddard did not allow both officers into the camper, forcing one of the men to grab the bear by its claw and drag it out of the camper.
Stoddard, who said he used to hunt bear and mountain lion, asked officers several times if he could keep the bear and even asked if he could recommend a potential bear buyer. But Game and Fish does not allow people to keep animals once they have killed them.
Officers said it could encourage people to kill animals in what they claim is self-defense in order to keep the animal afterward.
鈥淗e did damage on me, so I should be able to keep it and process it,鈥� Stoddard told the officers, asking if he could at least keep the head.
If a person intentionally kills an animal outside the legal hunting season, it鈥檚 considered poaching, according to Darren Vaughan, spokesperson for Game and Fish.
鈥淒epending on the situation, that person could face charges that include unlawful killing, unlawful possession or hunting without a license,鈥� Vaughan said.
Vaughan said Stoddard reported the incident properly, and officers were able to assess the situation and found there was no criminal activity in regard to the killing.
The lapel video showed one of the officers walked into the camper, which was filled with 鈥渟everal cans of tuna and piles of trash ... which likely contributed to luring the bear into the camper.鈥�
The officer grabbed the bear by its paw to drag it out of the camper and the body plopped into a furry heap on the steps leading into the camper. An officer then attached a towline to the bear and used a truck to drag it through grass and dirt before officers hoisted the body into the bed of a Game and Fish truck.
Stoddard then told the officers, 鈥淒id you know there鈥檚 a bone in the dick? They鈥檙e (expletive) badass, I bet he鈥檚 got one, lemme look.鈥� Stoddard then buried his hand into the bear to feel for the penis bone. When the officers told Stoddard he couldn鈥檛 keep the penis bone, he said 鈥渘obody would know.鈥�
An officer told him, 鈥渆verybody knows, we got all this ... we鈥檙e recording, too.鈥� Stoddard smacks his hands together in disappointment.
鈥淎 situation like this one where somebody has to kill an animal in the interest of their safety or another human鈥檚 safety is not terribly common,鈥� Vaughan said. 鈥淭ypically, we only see one incident like this every five years.鈥�
