Battle Creek Police Shoot Bear Who Strays Far From Home

The Associated Press

May 16, 2008, 1:16 PM EDT

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — Battle Creek police have killed a black bear that state officials believe wandered out of the wilds and well beyond its usual comfort zone.

The Battle Creek Enquirer reports Officer Troy Gilleylen was looking for the victim of a domestic assault early Friday when he shined his patrol car spotlight down a street and saw the bear.

He tried to get a closer look, but the bear ran away. Police say they shot the animal four times but it kept disappearing. They followed drops of blood on the pavement to the wounded bear and killed it.

State Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Jeff Goss says the roughly 250-pound bear will be taken to Lansing for tests.

Goss says bears migrate to the southern part of the state, but he believes this is the first to get this far south.