Famous falling bear tranquilized on Colorado campus is killed by cars days later

Andy Duann

A bear that wandered into the University of Colorado Boulder, Colo., dorm complex Williams Village falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado wildlife officials, April 26.

Authorities say a bear made famous by a photo that captured the animal falling from a tree at the University of Colorado has been hit and killed by two cars.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say the black bear was struck on U.S. 36 around dawn Thursday by one car and then another.


Parks spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill told msnbc.com that officials identified the bear as the same one whose photograph went viral by checking an ear tag that was placed on him after last week's tree incident.

PhotoBlog: Tranquilized bear falls from tree at University of Colorado

Images of the 3-year old, 280-pound male bear, its arms and legs splayed as it fell April 26, were widely viewed in newspapers, on news websites, and passed around social networks.

The animal was later relocated to a wilderness area about 50 miles west of Boulder.

According to the Daily Camera, a 1992 Toyota Camry hit the bear first, followed by a 2002 Ford Focus. Police say one driver had minor injuries after hitting the bear.

Churchill said the bear will be buried or disposed of in the manner roadkill is usually handled.

"I'm not sure what condition the body was in," she added.

Churchill said relocating bears is a difficult proposition, as the animals often return to the areas they used to inhabit. "Animals have home ranges and if they find habitat and they're finding food, even in town, and they feel safe there, they'll stay there," she said.

"We need [citizens] to give these bears a chance by not attracting them to town with trash and bird feeders and other food sources."

Churchill said it's not uncommon for bears to be killed by cars in Colorado.

"It's very disheartening when we have to see animals die this way," she said. "I hope it's a teaching moment for people because we really owe it to wildlife to do the right thing if we're going to live near them."

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I literally cried when I saw this. I will always have you on my dashboard bear. Bye bye.

  • 1 vote
Reply#105 - Fri May 4, 2012 9:10 PM EDT

The innocent creature is on your dashboard cause you don't pay attention to where your going.. Texting + Driving = Bloody Bear on your dash..

Hope this helped with with your emotional break down..

  • 2 votes
#105.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 11:58 AM EDT
Reply

Now you've seen the falling bear. But have you seen the skateboarding bear?

  • 1 vote
Reply#106 - Fri May 4, 2012 10:12 PM EDT

Good one engineerguy , I just laughed my bag off ! lol

    #106.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 12:10 PM EDT
    Reply

    Population isn't the problem. The Problem is the lack of organization and responsibility. We could be using our money to further scientific research, health, space exploration, stem cell etc. Instead we have folks who cling to this old world religion that keeps everyone down and the lack of punishment for the people who kill others allowing our resources to go to taking care of them. If the Government and corporations weren't so greedy for war and profit we would have been way ahead of just going to the moon and actually tried colonization or something. Its very possible but its what everyone is willing to do for their neighbor and beyond that really gets human civilization moving. Fact is its extremely difficult because we hold the dollar bill so highly. We even have "In God We Trust" written on the money. Something is wrong with that picture.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#107 - Fri May 4, 2012 10:36 PM EDT

    Very true.. It all comes down to taking care of eachother. If we cannot feel sympathy for our own kind, what will come of the species that we share the planet with. It's all about greed, ignorance, and hate.

      #107.1 - Sun May 6, 2012 5:18 PM EDT
      Reply

      the bear got hit twice? how does that happen? the article wasn't very clear on that point.

        Reply#108 - Sat May 5, 2012 1:45 AM EDT

        They forgot to mention where the driver looked back , saw that the bear was ok and backed up over him again .

          #108.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 12:20 PM EDT
          Reply

          I guess dropping the bear off on the side of a busy highway wasn't to bright.

            Reply#109 - Sat May 5, 2012 3:36 AM EDT

            I am waiting for someone to blame this on Obama.

            • 1 vote
            Reply#110 - Sat May 5, 2012 10:12 AM EDT

            mftx22, I'm waiting for Mr. Obama to blame it on George Bush!

            • 1 vote
            #110.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 10:33 AM EDT
            Reply

            By all means, let's not have babies so that fewer bears will be run over by Toyotas. Are you people stupid or something? Get your head out of your nether regions, get a life and get real.

              Reply#111 - Sat May 5, 2012 10:28 AM EDT

              Quote- "Churchill said the bear will be buried or disposed of in the manner roadkill is usually handled." So they gave it to chinese then ..

                Reply#112 - Sat May 5, 2012 12:08 PM EDT

                there are too many people, too much development, too little open spaces, and too little disregarde for the natural world, poor bear!

                • 1 vote
                Reply#113 - Sat May 5, 2012 2:57 PM EDT

                steph, whole Americans are scaling back on having babies as you call it, the muslims are having as many as they can so they can take over states and elect a muslim to the white house with their vote....not my words but from a muslims mouth...

                  Reply#114 - Sat May 5, 2012 5:48 PM EDT

                  Overpopulation is becoming a big problem... it is the multiplication factor. Family trees keep spreading out farther and farther and it is straining the resources of our planet. Wildlife is gradually being squeezed out. There is still plenty of wilderness area but it won't stay that way if we continue on the present course. We need to be good stewards of the land, be responsible before we suffer the consequences. I believe very much in animal rights, and I am supportive of PETA. As a matter of fact, often times I like animals better than people. They breathe the same air and live to survive and protect their young from predators, including humans. There are good people around, but there are also a lot of people in this world that utterly disgust me with their rude, selfish, abusive, and disrespectful behavior towards fellow humans and animals alike.

                    Reply#115 - Sun May 6, 2012 3:30 AM EDT

                    Great post.

                    It is because humans have been managing a non-healthy balance of species in the environment that there is animal starvation, overpopulation, disease and sickness among herds. Before Human life came into existence and stole the land from the animals, every single inch of Earth was animal populated.

                    Today, because human beings are populating the planet at such a rapid rate, they need more land to develop so they can spread out and survive.

                    Every patch and acre of land a human being claims as their own was once an animal's home. This is a fact that no human being can argue or deny.

                    Before humans took the territory from the animals, the animals had more land to raise their families on. Every time a human being develops a new patch of land, they take food and shelter way from an animal's natural means of survival. Now that human beings are so wide spread, the animals must leave the little territories that they have and find their survival elsewhere.

                    It is most certain that when an animal enters human territory, they do not go into it armed with weapons to hunt human beings or to claim their homes.

                    An animal will only go into a human beings territory to find food.

                    When an animal is seen in human territory, instead of giving them food, relocating them and assisting their survival, human beings deem that their presence is intrusive and claim that is over population of a species.

                    As soon as human beings see that animals cannot survive on the small amounts of land that they left to them, they will promptly send hunters in to control the population of animal life.

                    Instead of equally sharing this Earth, Man dominates and subdues it with selfish arrogance thinking that their species is more worthy of land and survival then an animal.

                    Every animal you see crossing a street is looking for food on the other side of the road.

                    These animals are looking for food because human beings limited their living space on this Earth.

                    If truth were known, the road ways belong more to the animals than the humans for at one time every roadway and highway was an animal's home.

                    As the WOA warns: About 4.5 billion people have been added to the world population in just the last 60 years, according to UN. Humans interact with their surroundings far more intensely than any other species and use vast amounts of carbon, nitrogen, water, and other resources, resulting in changes to the global climate, depletion of essential energy and other natural resources and wiping out thousands of plant and animal species.

                    Some of these outcomes are now unavoidable; we'll have to adapt to them. But to avoid catastrophe, we need to work simultaneously on two programs: 1) influence the future path of population and 2) address the environmental and social impacts that continued population growth will have.

                      #115.1 - Sun May 6, 2012 9:41 AM EDT

                      Thanks for the book! You are a NOB!

                      • 1 vote
                      #115.2 - Mon May 7, 2012 10:45 AM EDT
                      Reply

                      The comments posted on this board really do say alot about our society.. @!$%#, it was an article about a bear. It said nothing about overpopulation. I don't know what is worse.. The people who think everything is fine and dandy, or the people who think its not, but think we have miracle energy sources that would provide us with unlimited energy.. If we could find an energy source we would.. Someone said something about mining asteroids??? @!$%#ing crazy if you think that will work..

                      Whats funny then is how do we get these miracle energy sources? Who is going to find them when noone can afford a college education anymore?.. When we have an increasing demand for advanced degrees but keep supplying fewer qualified applicants, who is going to find these energy sources? When are students are told to take the safe track and get a business degree.. When we use standardized tests as a means for demonstrating knowledge. When we cut college curriculum to support the college sports programs. When the first thing to be cut from public funding is school funding.

                      When science tries to warn someone of something everyone says "Well what do they know?", but when we ask science for help we assume science will fix @!$%# immediately for us.. Just human arrogance.. I'm confident in our abilities, but far less confident that we will use them to the fullest extent possible. And that is what scares me.. The greed, the ignorance, the hate. Even in our so called developed countries, what have we developed into? Societies that care about money, power, having the next best consumer product.

                      You cannot compare the last century with the next century.. Just not possible.. Too many factors involved.. We have reached a pivotal moment in our history with advanced technology and a world full of knowledge, yet ignorance, hate, and greed threaten to overturn everything we as a species have worked to achieve.

                      Really all we can do is learn to accept eachothers differences, accept the world we have, and live.

                      You cannot always change the world around you, but what you can do is change how you react to it.

                        Reply#116 - Sun May 6, 2012 5:14 PM EDT

                        Someone said something about mining asteroids??? @!$%#ing crazy if you think that will work..

                        It's what they said about airplanes, Jeff...

                          #116.1 - Mon May 7, 2012 11:46 AM EDT
                          Reply

                          Urban sprawl. We have to have more stuff and bigger and bigger homes and are pushing the wildlife out of their habitats. We need to stop being consumers of so much crap and live in smaller homes.

                            Reply#117 - Tue May 8, 2012 11:03 AM EDT

                            What an ignoble death! Killed by a 1992 Camry....I'm gonna guess that the Camry was tan, no less.

                              Reply#118 - Fri May 11, 2012 4:23 PM EDT
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