Foraging bear spared by governor returns to town with 4 cubs

HANOVER, N.H. – A bear whose life was spared last spring by New Hampshire’s governor has returned with four new cubs to the college town where she has feasted for the last few years.

The bear was to be euthanized last May after two of her offspring entered a home near Dartmouth College in Hanover. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu instead ordered them relocated after public outcry.

While the three yearlings were moved north — one of them later was killed by a hunter — the mother bear wasn’t trapped because she left the area to mate. As predicted, she has reappeared, with new cubs. Bear biologist Andy Timmins put a tracking collar on the mother Friday and said the family will be moved when the weather warms up.

Sununu says he agrees with the plan to track and move the bear.