Two Cornell students skin bear in dorm kitchen, school says – USA Today

Two Cornell students hunted and skinned a 120-pound bear inside a residence hall kitchen over the weekend, university personnel said.
Two Cornell University undergraduate students with valid New York State hunting licenses lawfully killed a bear over the weekend. The students brought the animal into a residence hall, where they processed it on Saturday, Sept. 6, Rebecca Valli, Cornell senior director of media relations, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. A police report was made after a compliant was filed on Sunday, Sept. 7.
No charges have been filed against the students.
The bear was killed in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Region 4, according to a DEC statement obtained by USA TODAY. Upon investigation, the DEC’s Division of Law Enforcement found no violations of Environmental Conservation Law or DEC regulations.
The Cornell Daily Sun, the university’s independent student newspaper, reported that the bear was skinned in Ganędagǫ: Hall kitchen, where the meat was kept inside the kitchen’s refrigerator. The university did not confirm this reporting.
Images of the skinned bear in the residence hall kitchen have circulated on social media, notably Reddit. Cornell students, alumni and other Reddit users have largely expressed their distaste for the incident.
“I would assume that this wasn’t allowed, but apparently we now need it in literal writing because people don’t know any better,” one Reddit user commented.
The black bear hunting season varies throughout the state of New York. However, the early firearms black bear hunting season in the DEC’s Region 4 is open Sept. 6-21, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.

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