Officials are investigating two recent poaching cases in which female black bears were killed while denning with their cubs.
Law enforcement Capt. Carroll Chastain with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said bear poaching is common and the agency has investigated several cases already this season.
But Cpl. Casey Jones said illegal killings don’t usually happen when cubs are present.
“Those cubs are completely dependent on their mother for the first six to eight months of their lives,” he said. “When a female bear is killed that has cubs this young, those cubs are done as far as (being) wild animals.”
Cpl. Jones said one bear was killed in the Chattahoochee National Forest in southern Murray County between Feb. 28 and March 1. Her body was left at the scene, but her cubs were taken, he said.