UPDATED 4:00 p.m.: A black bear that had kept wildlife, fire and police officials busy for about four hours Thursday afternoon as it posted up high in a tree on the National Institues of Health campus has now been sedated and will be released along the Potomac.
Officials said around 3:10 p.m. that they fired two tranquilizer shots at the approximately 150 pound bear, which sedated it. Officials said they’ll take it to a more bear-friendly habitat along the Potomac River.
About 30 minutes before, the bear descended from the tree after officers fired noise makers to scare it down. The loud noises caused the bear to climb down, but it then escaped from a fenced enclosure under the tree and ran into the guarded NIH campus, as officials chased it. Prior to that, the bear barely moved for about four hours after being spotted around 11 a.m. about 100 feet up in tree.
It’s the fifth bear sighting in Montgomery County this week, according to county officials. Paul Peditto of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said it’s likely the same bear seen in Rockville this morning.
When asked if that was a long distance for the animal to travel, he said, “not for a bear.”
Peditto said officials erected the barrier to keep the animal from running toward Rockville Pike or toward a host of onlookers that had gathered to watch the scene.
Peditto said officials want to relocate the bear to the western part of the state or somewhere else it can be safe.
NIH has surveillance footage of a black bear on the campus from 1 a.m. Wednesday, according to NIH spokesman Bradley Moss, but officials did not know if it was the same bear.
“I saw it at 10:40 scratching its back on the ground and called police,” said Bethesda resident Evangeline, who declined to give her last name. She said she was getting on a bus when she spotted the animal.
Bear contact with humans is more common in the late spring and early summer, according to DNR manager Ken D’Loughy, as 2 year-old males travel hundreds of miles in search of their own territory.
Maryland has a stable population of bears in western parts of the state, he said. According to a 2012 Bethesda Magazine report, the bear population in the state is estimated at 1,000 and has been on the rise
The Bethesda bear has been taken out of the woods. pic.twitter.com/tK3QAcCLfE
— Valerie Bonk (@ValerieBonk) June 19, 2014
Here’s gun and firecracker device they’re planning to use. He said if that doesn’t work will use tranquilizer pic.twitter.com/y3fkSHpaJ5
— Bethesda Beat (@BethesdaBeat) June 19, 2014