UPDATE 1/25/24 12:35 p.m.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A 350-pound black bear that perched for hours in a tree, causing a Mother’s Day spectacle last spring in Northern Michigan, was killed by a hunter, authorities said.
“It makes me sad, because I was just envisioning it living peacefully in the forest somewhere, thriving as a bear does,” said Ashlea Walter, who was among dozens of people who watched in May as authorities responded to a bear in a Traverse City neighborhood.
The bear was killed four months later in September in Emmet County, according to a DNR report.
“We have a few designated relocation sites and then let it go, and it’s on its own to be a bear,” said Stephen Griffith, a state wildlife biologist. “And yes, during the bear season, obviously some of them fall prey of a hunter.”
The bear’s arrival on Mother’s Day caused a stir. Spectators sitting on front lawns and in chairs held phones up to take pictures and video of the bear in a tree.
The bear fell asleep for hours after being shot with tranquilizer darts, then fell out of the tree and landed on a mattress — a soft landing that was supplied by Walter.
The bear was transferred on a tarp and released miles away in the wild.
5/19/23 8:20 a.m.
It was a memorable Mother’s Day after an unexpected guest created quite a stir in one Northern Michigan neighborhood.
The DNR was called Sunday morning to help get a black bear, weighing at least 350 lbs., out of a Traverse City neighborhood near downtown.
Pam Fordyce lives in the area and said it started out as a quiet morning but things quickly changed.
“I looked out the window and couldn’t quite figure out why there were so many cars out on my street. Neighbors were all out. I said, ‘Oh, they’re all wishing each other a Happy Mother’s Day,’” said Fordyce.
Fordyce says that’s when she saw a big boom truck, several police vehicles, and a large crowd.
“So I came outside and said, ‘they’re looking at something.’ And I noticed across the street, up in the tree, that there was a pretty significantly big bear,” said Fordyce.
The DNR was called and came out to help assist. DNR Wildlife Biologist, Steve Griffith said with the assistance of Traverse City Light and Power, they were able to reach the bear and tranquilize the animal with several darts.
“They showed up with a bucket truck. At that point, they were able to lift me up in the bucket to get pretty close to the bear, to make a very, you know, safe and reliable shot with the dart gun,” said Griffth.
But then things went a little sideways for the DNR, according to Fordyce.
“They ended up shooting four tranquilizers into him before they ever got him really to totally fall asleep. They were trying to tie the bear up kind of under his armpits to lower him down. And he got away for a moment and slipped down out of the tree,” said Fordyce.
The DNR said the bear did fall from the rope they were trying to secure the bear with but they did have mattresses set up below that helped soften the landing. The bear was checked out and is fine.
He was taken to an undisclosed location more than 60 miles away and released on state land.
DNR officials said it’s not a common occurrence to see bears in Traverse City but it’s not unheard of. There was one a few years back and another bear in a tree 12 years ago on Memorial Day.
Griffith had these words of advice if you’re ever in a situation where you are face to face with a bear.
“If you encounter a bear, you want to make yourself look as big as possible. You don’t want to run. Face the bear, wave your arms, yell at it. Then once you’ve done that, you try to slowly back away from the bear,” said Griffith.
Advice Fordyce said she hopes she never has to use but does say she will now be more watchful for, at least while it’s still fresh in her mind.
“For a while it’ll be something that you think about. And as you cross the neighborhood in the dark, you wonder what could be lurking in the dark. But for the most part, just like the other bear that they trapped a couple of years ago, it’ll be back to normal pretty soon,” said Fordyce.
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