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Cunningham: Police had no choice but to kill bear
Journal photo by Paul Garber
Rudy Kane shows the bird feeder a bear knocked down with one swipe of the paw at his Kramer Court home.
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Published: July 13, 2009
Updated: 07/14/2009 11:54 am
Winston-Salem Police Chief Scott Cunningham said officers had no choice but to kill a bear that wandered into the yards of a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city Monday night.
Officers wounded the bear in the back yard of a home on Kramer Court, near the intersection of Robinhood and Shattalon roads, just after 8 p.m.
The bear climbed about 50 feet up a tree, but it couldn't hang on and dropped to the ground.
At that point, the animal was shot and killed to put it out of its misery, Cunningham said.
Cunningham said that police would have preferred that a wildlife agency handle the situation, but said officers had to deal with it immediately because the bear was in a populated area.
"We didn't think it was worth it to wait for the bear to become hostile," Cunningham said.
The bear that was killed was probably not the only bear nearby, Cunningham said. Neighbors reported seeing a larger bear in the same area.
The dead bear's carcass has been frozen and will be turned over to wildlife biologists, Cunningham said.
All day Monday police had been warning residents of western Forsyth County to stay away if they saw bears in the area.
Police said they received reports of bear sightings over the weekend on the western edge of the city between Country Club and Robinhood roads.
Forsyth County Animal Control officers advise that people stay away from the bears if they see them. Potential sources of food — including pet food, trash, bird feeders and small pets — should be removed from outside the home to avoid attracting them.
Officials at Grandfather Mountain in Linville have also temporarily closed a number of hiking trails because of increased bear activity according to an announcement posted yesterday on the park's web site.
Closed are the Grandfather Extension Trail, the Black Rock Trail and the Grandfather Trail from the Mile High Swinging Bridge to MacRae Peak.
Bears, including a mother bear with cubs, have been seen in the area, which is now a state park.
N.C. park rangers also say hikers should not access Grandfather Mountain from the parking areas at the Profile Trail and the Daniel Boone Scout Trail.
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