Newsletter #168 (View other news stories)
Runaway bear's adventure ends with a forklift ride
STEVENS POINT, WI, United States
Thursday, 29 Jul 2004
A young black bear that frightened and amused a suburban community for hours was finally sedated and transported back to a nature reserve aboard a forklift.
Authorities shot tranquiliser darts into the two-year-old bear after it had spent more than 16 hours up a tree.
Rangers told the Stevens Point Journal the 140-pound (63.5kg) bear wandered away from the Schmeekle Reserve and climbed up a tall tree in the early hours of the morning.
Fearing injuring the bear, authorities initially decided to wait for the bear to climb down on its own, but the arrival of a large crowd watching the spectacle scared the animal.
At one point, onlookers yelled at the bear, prompting it to climb so far up the tree that the tree was wobbling, an onlooker said.
A wildlife services officer eventually fired two tranquiliser darts into the frightened animal, which was then dragged onto a forklift and driven home to its nature reserve.
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