Officials with the state's game and fish department shot and killed a bear after it charged at an officer Wednesday morning.
Arizona Game and Fish Department officials were pursuing the female bear after it was seen shortly before 7 a.m. in the 5800 block of Bright Star Drive, near the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa, said department spokesman Mark Hart.
Officials found the bear in the wash area that runs beneath East Sunrise Drive and adjacent to the golf course. When an officer approached the bear at about 9:30 a.m., it growled and charged, at which point it was "lethally removed," Hart said.
Officials believe it's the same bear that was seen peering into a Summerhaven cabin Friday evening, and Hart said that the department received reports Tuesday of the bear being spotted in residential neighborhoods in the Foothills.
The bear has a history with the state, as it's ear tag revealed that it had been previously relocated from Greer to another remote location, Hart said.
While Mt. Lemmon is more than 20 miles away from the neighborhood the bear was removed from, Hart says that's not a long way, given that the bear traveled here from north of Globe.
"It's not unusual for bears to travel long distances, but more often than not, a relocated bear returns to the point you moved it from," Hart said. "It would have been not unusual for it to make it's way back to Greer, but in this case it headed more-or-less south."
Based on the bear looking into the cabin and tracks found on a dumpster at Marshal Gulch, a major trail head on Mt. Lemmon, officials say it's clear that the bear was seeking food from human sources.
"It was continuing its search for what was in its stomach, which was basically garbage," Hart said, adding that the necropsy revealed the bear had been eating garbage. "That's how it got into trouble in Greer last July."
Β The full necropsy result, including the bear's age and weight, weren't immediately available, but Hart said that it easily weighed more than 100 pounds.
Β "People shouldn't assume it was harmless because it looked that way in photos," Hart said. "Just because it didn't weight 350 pounds doesn't mean it wasn't dangerous. It certainly was."
