Bear Made Famous By Unique Picture Is Dead
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- A black bear who gained fame in a picture that captured him falling from a tree in Boulder has died.
"We got news last night that the bear that was on the CU campus on April 25 was hit by a car," said Colorado Parks & Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill.
The bear was hanging out on the University of Colorado Boulder campus last week.
The 200 pound bear was spotted in a tree near the Williams Village housing complex in the morning of April 26.
He had been spotted earlier as well, before he found his spot in the tree.
Wildlife officers tranquilized him and he fell onto padded mats. Officials said the bear was relocated about 50 miles west of Boulder.
But he wandered back.
Park and Wildlife officials said the bear was struck and killed between 5 and 6 a.m. Thursday by two cars on Highway 36 southeast of Boulder.
After the collision, one person in one of the cars went to the hospital with minor injuries.
"We try and do everything we can to give those bears a chance and to get them out of town and get them re-acclimated to another place," said Churchill. "Most times they really do everything they can to make a bee-line back to where we moved them from."
Drought concerns could mean more bears may head into towns and cities in Colorado during the warm months this year.
Churchill said it's up to the public to keep food sources away from bears to keep them where they should be, "These animals are basically like 300 pound raccoons, they are looking for food, they are hungry and they'll travel very far distances."
The mother of one of the driver who struck the bear said her son is really shaken up about the incident and feels bad about what happened.
