Tennessee wildlife officials captured and relocated a 500-pound black bear last week after it had been found living near a university.
The bear was located near Tusculum University, a private Presbyterian university near Greeneville in northeast Tennessee, and “had become habituated to human and unnatural foods,” the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said in a Facebook post Thursday.
Officials said the bear had been in the area for a few years and regularly accessed garbage, birdseed and pet food. The bear had been more active in the past year, resulting in property damage around the area.
The agency decided to trap the bear “due to the increasing potential for negative interaction” with humans, but the bear evaded capture after changing its travel route.
But it wasn’t long before the bear went back to its old course, and wildlife officials located and tranquilized the bear. With the help of the Greeneville Fire Department, the bear was put in a transport cage and taken to a remote part of the nearby Cherokee National Forest.
An adult male black bear can reach up to 660 pounds, but 500 pounds is about the average size, according to the International Association for Bear Research and Management.
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Tennessee has had a growing black bear population since it became a protected species in the 1930s. Most of the bears live near the North Carolina and Kentucky border, according to the agency.
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
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