Last year, federal and North Carolina and Georgia state wildlife law enforcement announced the results of Operation Something Bruin, a joint investigation that resulted in bear-poaching charges against 80 people. But an investigation by an Atlanta TV station found that charges against many of those people have since been dropped for lack of evidence and others were allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges such as driving on a closed forestry road. In fact, the investigation found that law enforcement officers, not the alleged poachers, killed many of the bears.
