Gunshots ward off bear

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BEARSVILLE, N.Y., July 25 (UPI) -- A Bearsville, N.Y., resident said he hopes shots fired at a mother bear will keep her and her cubs from ransacking his home in the future.

Martin Knowles said bears first visited his family's home and trashed their kitchen July 13, broke into the home a second time later in the same day and made a third visit the following day and ransacked the entire home, The Times-Herald Record, Middletown, N.Y., reported Wednesday.

Knowles said Department of Environmental Conservation agents soon arrived and determined the mother bear needed to be euthanized.

He said the agents caught one of the mother's cubs in a trap July 17 and fired shots at the mother when she arrived looking for her cub, but the shots missed their mark and the mother escaped.

Knowles said the agents later released the cub and he hasn't seen a trace of the bears since. He said he hopes the animals won't return and the mother won't need to be killed.