Hank the Tank: Fugitive burglar bear captured in California

A massive and notoriously mischievous black bear has been captured after more than a year on the run following a string of break-ins in California.

The 500lbs (227kg) bear, known to fans as Hank the Tank, is believed to have broken into 21 homes in the Lake Tahoe area since 2022.

Hank - who is actually a female bear registered as 64F - will be moved to a sanctuary in Colorado.

Her three cubs may be transferred to a facility in California's Sonoma County.

In a statement released on Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said that biologists had "safely immobilised" the bear, who had been linked to 21 break-ins by DNA evidence.

Pending a successful health check, Hank will be taken to the Wild Animal Sanctuary near Springfield, Colorado.

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While California authorities have noted that relocation is "not typically an option", Hank's fame has given her a reprieve.

"Given the widespread interest in this bear, and the significant risk of a serious incident involving the bear, CDFW is employing an alternative solution to safeguard the bear family as well as the people in the South Lake Tahoe community," the statement said.

Hank's three cubs will be taken to a different facility in Petaluma, California "in hopes they can discontinue the negative behaviours they learned from the sow and can be returned to the wild".

On the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, Colorado Governor Jared Polis welcomed Hank - and joked that she should have been named "Henrietta the Tank".

Hank was originally believed to have been responsible for over 40 break-ins, but DNA samples proved that the break-ins were also the work of at least two other large bears with a voracious appetite for human food.

The discovery that Hank was not alone in the crime spree prompted California officials to reassure the public that "no bears will be euthanised, harmed, relocated to some facility or placed in a zoo".

Biologists believe that Hank, who is considerably larger than most black bears, had grown unafraid of humans and had learned to use her strength to force her way into people's homes.

"When you have a bear forcibly crashing its way through a garage door or ripping open a front door with people inside, that's pretty brazen and unusual," CDFW spokesperson Peter Tira told the BBC in February 2022.

The whereabouts and potential fate of the other two bears involved in the spree of California break-ins is unclear.

The BBC has reached out to CDFW for comment.

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