A black bear that was being illegally fed by people in Cottage Grove, including from a car dealership, was killed by wildlife officials on Monday.

The 2-year-old male bear was first seen in the city on March 5 and was spotted repeatedly near people or homes over the last several weeks, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The bear even cornered a woman last week as she attempted to enter her house and subsequently went to sleep on a neighbor’s front porch, officials said.

Wildlife biologists said the bear had become “food-conditioned, showed no fear of people and was habituated to the extent that it would become aggressive towards people,” a news release said. The bear was killed by Oregon State Police.

“This is not the outcome anyone wanted,” ODFW district wildlife biologist Chris Yee said. “The actions we had to take were a direct result of people intentionally feeding this bear.”

Oregon is home to between 25,000 to 30,000 bears, who are more active and seeking food this time of year after coming out of hibernation.

ODFW spokeswoman Beth Quillian said this case was unique because people were “actively and intentionally feeding this bear,” she said.

“Often, the feeding is accidental,” she said. “People don’t realize their birdfeeder or compost is also attractive to bears, or they didn’t mean to leave food out. But in this case, it wasn’t accidental. We had video and accounts of people actively feeding the bear.”

In March, ODFW and Oregon State Police served a local car dealership and employee with a warning to cease feeding the bear. It is illegal in Oregon to either directly or indirectly feed bears and can result in a Class A misdemeanor.

ODFW wouldn’t reveal the name of the dealership because they were only warned and not cited.

Officials said relocation was not an option for bears that are habituated to food provided by people.

“Bears have a very strong tendency to return to the place they were captured — some traveling up to 50 miles or more to return,” the news release said. “Bears that have become habituated to human food tend to repeat the same bad behaviors in their new location. Relocating bears results in exporting the problem to another community if the bear does not return to the site of capture. Most habituated bears that are captured have to be humanely killed to protect human safety.”

In addition, “habituated bears past the age of cub are rarely considered candidates for placement in an accredited facility or zoo. A bear’s age, behavior, and circumstances plus facility availability and space are all factors when considering the possibility of placement. The average home range for a male black bear can exceed 50 square miles and placement in a confined facility is often not considered a viable or humane solution.”

Bears that are fed have an excellent memory for food.

“Not only will they remember where they have found food before, including trash, but female bears will also pass this knowledge down to their young. Intentionally or accidentally feeding bears can negatively affect multiple generations of bears,” the news release said.

The thing to emphasize, said Quillian, is that “just one person feeding a bear can lead to so many issues,” she said. “It’s really a community effort to avoid outcomes like this.”

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Black bear euthanized in Oregon after becoming aggressive