The black bear (Ursus Americanus) that was spotted approaching women visiting the Chipinque Ecological Park and neighbors of the San Pedro Municipality in Nuevo León, was caught and is under the protection of the state branch of the Environmental Protection Federal Prosecutor that will decide what will happen to the animal.
Nuevo León’s Parks and Wildlife direction informed the black bear was caught on Wednesday afternoon at the Valle de San Ángel neighborhood of the San Pedro municipality after a neighbor called 911.
The call was attended by workers from the Parks and Wildlife direction, in addition to personnel from Mexico’s Federal Environmental Protection Agency (PROFEPA), who, after locating the animal, held it “through chemical contention,” which does not put its health at risk and once they caught him, they noticed it had an ID ring on an ear with the number 34, which corresponds to the bear that approached hikers some weeks ago and then followed a woman in a residential area near the Nuevo León ecological park.
After being caught, the bear underwent a medical evaluation performed by Wildlife officials and was then seized by PROFEPA, that will decide what will happen to it.
In this regard, people have asked, through a petition at the online platform change.org that the animal is not taken to a zoo for they think it is unfair for it to be taken out of its habitat since humans are the ones who have invaded its territory and have proposed that it be taken to a faraway area of the mountainous region instead.
The petition says that “the Nuevo León government declared it will catch the bear that was recently recorded and photographed at Chipinque to then take it to a zoo; the bear is in its natural habitat and must not be punished by taking it out of there because we, humans, have invaded its home; please, help me keep it home.”
Administrators at Chipinque said, “this kind of approach by a black bear to a visitor is an abnormal behavior caused by human beings.”
Authorities think bear 34 has become a “risk” because it is no longer afraid of humans and could attack them any time it approaches them; moreover, it could also be at risk.
The bear was first seen approaching a group of hikers at the Chipinque ecological park. For a few seconds, the bear got close to two female hikers who stood still and snapped a few selfies with the animal.
The viral video shows that both women stayed calm while other hikers tried to scare the bear away and asked the women not to move to prevent the bear from attacking them.
Another video showed the same bear following a woman and standing in her way in a street of a nearby residential area.
The video shows the bear following and sniffing a woman while she was slowly walking on the street to safely escape from it.
However, there was a moment in which the bear grabbed the woman from one of her legs, forcing her to stop while a man asked her to stay calm and not to move. Despite the surprise, no one was harmed.
These types of events and sightings are common in nearby residential areas, especially during the dry season. According to experts, the bears leave the mountains to search for water and food.
Source: El Universal