Alaska man who starred in Animal Planet show pleads guilty to feeding bears

Alaska authorities say a man featured in a television series about his life among wild bears at his Alaska cabin has pleaded guilty to illegally feeding the bears dog food and cookies.

Assistant state Atty. Gen. Andrew Peterson says 71-year-old Charlie Vandergaw pleaded guilty to eight counts last week. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss an additional 12 counts in the case.

If terms of the plea agreement are accepted by a judge at Thursday's sentencing, Vandergaw would get 180 days of suspended jail time and a fine of between $20,000 and $72,000.

A documentary broadcast last year on Animal Planet shows Vandergaw scratching the belly of one black bear and feeding a cookie to another at his cabin, about 40 miles north of Anchorage.

Game officials consider feeding bears a danger to humans.

-- Associated Press, in Anchorage, Alaska

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Video: Animal Planet via YouTube

Comments

[Sahara]

This is a very sad story. It seems extremely unfair to punish a man for having a beautiful relationship to his natural surroundings, which in this case included bears. Black bears are not the dangerous creatures that the media and the wildlife managers want to make them out to be. The dangerous animal is man, and in this case the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game shows its incredible lack of compassion and understanding by insisting on imposing such a huge fine on a man that not only discovered that bears are beautiful and amazing animals, but showed the rest of us who got to see the tv programs. The more alienated and fearful people become of animals and nature, the less hope we have of living in harmony and health on planet earth. This man gave many people hope and now the Alaskan State is crushing it. I guess that's what we can expect from a state that elected Sarah Palin.

[Marie]

The previous comment is just ignorant. Bears are WILD ANIMALS. There should be at the very least a little fear involved in handling them because, well lets see. You can get mauled or eaten or any number of other things. I love bears but at the same time I'm not going to walk up and assume Yogies going to want something out of my picnic basket and we'll be best friends. Feeding bears makes them less wild and more dependent on man for their food. If it goes on long enough either they will be too lazy to hunt for themselves or not know how. Then lets say that 'The Great Bear Savior' in the video above dies for some reason. His neighbors are the ones who will suffer and in the long run and so will the bears. A lot of bear attacks could be prevented if photographers and campers wouldn't feed them or put food out for them. People are often attacked because of other peoples negligence.