Black Bear in North St. Paul

[analyzer]

Rumor has it, my source is my daughters friend, so take it for what it's worth, there was a black bear in a tree by ST Peters church in NSP. Apparently they've put it down. I can't imagine where it would've come from. Grant Twnshp I suppose through Mahtomedi or something. Poor thing. I can't believe they couldn't find another alternative.

[DonBo]

Here's the story:

Bear In Tree In North St. Paul Shot, Killed NORTH ST. PAUL, Minn.

A bear climbed up into a tree in a residential area of North St. Paul on Friday, Sept. 25, 2009.

A bear spotted in a North St. Paul neighborhood climbed a tree was shot and killed after it tried to run away.

According to authorities, the bear was spotted walking around 9 a.m.

Linda and Ernie Rivers were dropping their daughter off at Richardson Elementary School, which is located just south of 17th Avenue East between 1st and 2nd Streets North, when they saw the bear.

They said it was walking between houses.

When rescue crews showed up, the bear ran into a big tree.

Works from the Department of Natural Resources shot a beanbag device at the bear to try and get it to come down. After a few hours, it descended.

When it tried to run off, the DNR shot and killed it.

Richardson Elementary officials said they would hold recess inside, but mainly because of the rainy weather.

[pumper317]

A few years ago i worked at joe's sporting goods in St Paul. We had a young bear cub come through the patrking area. You can now see the little guy when you walk into the store, its hanging on one of the beams.

It too bad they have to kill them instead of transporting them, but i do get the reasoning behind it.

[Big Buck Buster]

Instead on shooting the bean bags at it, they could have tranquilized it, then transported it north.

[buckx37x]

kinda wondered to why theysom couldnt tranq. it and move it,

[maros91]

they said on the news that only a select few had training in using the tranq gun and none of them could get there in a decent amount of time so they put the bear down.

[tweedlap]

Bull ! Leave the poor thing in the tree. Don't shoot bean bags at it for three hours. Wait for a tranqulizer gun to arrive.

After three fricken hours.......the great MN DNR couldn't round up a tranqulizer gun and one guy that new how to use it. Someone from Bemidgi could have made it to the scene in that amount of time. Give me a break.

Whomever provided the brain power on that decision should be:

SUSPENDED FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS ! NO PAY.

Losers.

tweed

[UdeLakeTom]

DNR officers shot and killed a small black bear seen meandering through North St. Paul on Friday morning, running through yards and getting uncomfortably close to two elementary schools.

People began crowding to see the bear, and a tranquilizer could not be found, so authorities killed the wild animal to ensure public safety, Police Chief Tom Lauth said.

"We had to call extra help just to keep people back," Lauth said. "There was a large amount of citizens out, interested in the bear, wanting to see it, wanting to take pictures of it. They don't understand the dangers of backing (a bear) in a corner. ... They're wild animals."

A call came in about 9 a.m. Friday from officials at a local school, Lauth said. The animal was spotted in the area between Richardson Elementary, at 15th Avenue and First Street, and St. Peter Catholic School, two blocks away on Margaret Street.

Richardson Elementary officials called police after several staff members and parents reported seeing the bear, Principal Joe Slavin said.

"There were rumblings that there was a bear in the neighborhood ... about a half-hour before kids were arriving," Slavin said. "By the time the students arrived, everything was taken care of."

None of the students saw the bear, Slavin said.

The bear eventually climbed a tree in a front yard in the 2500 block of 13th Avenue East.

But because onlookers had gathered, when the bear came down, officials had to make a tough call.

"We were

-.

.trying to get a tranquilizer gun ready, due to the urban location. But unfortunately, the bear came down out of the tree," said 1st Lt. Jason Peterson, a DNR conservation officer, who was not at the scene. "It's a public-safety issue. It's an urban environment, a school nearby. All of those things we would take into account."

Tranquilizers don't always work, added DNR spokesman Steve Carroll. In this case, if the bear had been shot while in the tree, it's possible it wouldn't have survived the fall. If officers had waited, it's possible the drugs wouldn't have been effective or fast enough to prevent danger to onlookers.

DNR officials estimated the bear was about 2 years old and 120 to 130 pounds. Black bears can weigh up to 400 pounds, so this was a relatively small bear, Peterson said.

The bear likely was displaced by its mother recently and looking for a place to live, Peterson said.

Edward Springborn, who lives at 2573 13th Ave., saw the commotion across the street as he was arriving home Friday morning.

"It must have been just when they shot it. ... One guy was running," he said.

Springborn had been called and told there was a bear in the area before he got home. His friends and neighbors shared their stories, he said, including someone who dropped off their child at school.

"One of the little girls ran up and said she saw a bear, but someone said, 'No, it must've been a dog,' " he said.

For Springborn, who has lived in North St. Paul for 30 years, Friday's bear is the first such sighting he's heard of.

Bear sightings in the metro area happen about once or twice a year, Peterson said. In recent months, bears have been reported in White Bear Lake and Anoka.

In this case, the public interest led to the animal's demise.

"Our main concern was the public," Lauth said. "We had people trying to feed it. They don't always understand this isn't some small, furry domestic animal. This is an animal capable of doing much harm."

Officials caution people to stay indoors if a bear is spotted in the area.

In general, said Pete Takash, an information officer for the DNR's Division of Fish and Wildlife, it's never OK to feed wild animals. It interferes with their natural food-gathering abilities and diverts them from where they really should be looking, he said.

The DNR will donate the bear's body to a family that will use the meat, Peterson said.

[CrowRiverRat83]

I agree with tweed. The decision not to use a tranq gun is all [PoorWordUsage].

[natalie]

ditto

[bogwalker]

Most people don't know that the animals tranquilized by the D.N.R. in the metro area do not usually survive anyway. They are loaded into a vehicle and hauled away. The D.N.R. receives calls

( sometimes a lot of calls ) asking how the animal is doing. They are told the animal is fine. Everybody goes away happy. The stress the animal is under throughout the encounter and the amount of chemical needed to put that animal down usually makes a fatal combination.

[DuckDog]

Was there a training like last week with the Como Zoo and a Lion escaping?

I thought I read that if a predator escaped the plan was for it to be put down immediately. Course, I am sure Como has a tranquilizer gun.

[funbilly]

So they should've waited longer? All while the crowd grew. If someone would of gotten hurt while waiting for the tranq and a guy to use it. Then you'd be complaining about why they didn't act quicker or dispatch it sooner. Its always easy to point fingers at organizations you obviously don't care for anyway. Due to the wording in your post tweed.