'Hank the Tank' accused of terrorizing multiple homes around Lake Tahoe is actually 3 hungry black bears, DNA shows

• A burly black bear in California was accused of breaking into homes and causing property damage.
• DNA evidence has now revealed that "Hank the Tank" is actually three different bears.

A hefty black bear accused of terrorizing homes in South Lake Tahoe, California, is actually three different bears, wildlife authorities said.

The 500-pound bear nicknamed "Hank the Tank" was the cause of more than 150 calls to wildlife officials and law enforcement over more than seven months.

His size, nearly double the average black bear, was due to his diet of processed human food. "In Tahoe, there's year-round access to high caloric food - whether we're talking about leftover pizza or ice cream or just trash," Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the CDFW, told the BBC. "It's easier to find that kind of food than to work for hours to remove grubs from a dead log."

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But now, DNA samples have revealed that two other bears were also involved in the spate of break-ins, officials said on Thursday.

Authorities have said that they are now no longer seeking to euthanize "Hank the Tank" after discovering he was not acting alone.

"Identifying bears simply by their visible, physical characteristics can lead to misidentifying bears and therefore confusing management efforts," California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said in a statement.

"The genetic information gleaned from our effort in the South Lake Tahoe area will assist CDFW by expanding its database of bear genetics and hopefully preventing future misidentification of bears."

Officials said that they will now work to "trap, tag and work to relocate habituated bears."

The three "Hanks" were responsible for forcibly entering at least 28 homes and causing extensive property damage in 33 documented cases.

Local residents said that they had been living in fear of the Hanks, who officials said had become "severely food-habituated," meaning they were no longer afraid of people and have come to associate them with food.

"I'm tired of having to fear our lives quite frankly because of what the bear may or may not do," local resident Bridget Marchetti Philip told CBS13.

"When you have a bear forcibly crashing its way through a garage door or ripping open a front door with people inside, that's pretty brazen and unusual," Tira told the BBC.