PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The bear spotted wandering the streets of east Vancouver earlier this week has been caught and released into a more suitable habitat, wildlife officials said Thursday.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police said multiple callers rang in to report spotting the bear.
The bear was reportedly non-confrontational and usually ran away when he came across people, however, WDFW said the city was too populated for the bear to live “peacefully.”
Wildlife conflict specialists used a tranquilizer to capture the bear and released him in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Wildlife officials said the bear was about two-years-old and weighed 94 pounds.
Surveillance video shared with KOIN 6 captured the bear walking outside Kari Pelz’s house on Sunday. Pelz and her husband were in disbelief until they saw the bear walking up their driveway.
“I was thinking that this poor bear has probably been pushed out of the wooded area that was close by that they’ve taken out now and are doing construction up there. They probably just don’t have no place to go,” she said.
Pelz called 911, but by the time police arrived to her home, the bear was already gone.