Banned from Her Home for 3 Years for Feeding Bears, Ore. Woman Loses Appeal
Despite the help of an animal law attorney, Geordie Duckler, who handled her appeal pro bono, a former resident of an Oregon Coast town has lost a legal fight over her conviction for feeding local black bears.
Karen Noyes, 63, lost an appeal and the Oregon Supreme Court recently declined her petition for review, reports the Oregonian.
She is now living in California, after being banned from her Yachats home for three years following a 2009 conviction for chasing and harassing wildlife, and says she will never live in Oregon again.
Noyes was acquitted by a Lincoln County Circuit Court jury of a charge of reckless endangerment. A photo published by the newspaper shows Noyes bending down to stand almost nose-to-nose with an apparently well-fed black bear, as three others chow down farther away in her yard.
Neighbors complained that by feeding the bears Noyes put their homes and livestock at risk; she said she began doing so, in 2002, after losing her daughter one year and her husband the next. Four bears were shot and killed in one month in 2008 after they were determined to be a safety risk to people.
She said she learned a lot by feeding the bears but wouldn’t do so again, the article reports.
“I think it is probably better that people don’t feed wildlife, for the sake of the wildlife,” she said.
Hat tip: Associated Press
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Ore. Woman Convicted of Feeding Bears Must Leave Home for 3 Years”
