Farewell, Bear: Burlington County Bear Tranquilized

After captivating much of South Jersey and the region, the black bear that made his way through Burlington County over the past several days was finally captured, peacefully, just off Route 130 in Delran Thursday morning.

Delran Police Sgt. Jeffrey Hubbs said police were called to Suburban Boulevard just before 6 a.m. Thursday for a reported bear sighting. Shortly after they arrived, the 364-pound bear, a male, scurried about 25 feet up a tree next to Delran KinderCare.

It didn't take long for police, firefighters and Fish and Wildlife officials—as well as a large crowd of news media and onlookers—to converge on the scene. 

The bear remained in the tree for a few hours, seemingly gaping back at the curious crowd that was gaping at him. 

Resident Phaedra Schwartz, who was watching the scene unfold from behind police tape, said at one point the bear began to climb down, "but then I guess he started to get nervous and went back up the tree."

Brian Lewis, a resident of nearby Tenby Chase Apartments, had a particularly close encounter with the bear early Thursday morning. He and his friends were playing cards around 2 a.m. when they heard a noise outside, he said. They stepped outside and saw the bear laying in a courtyard, roughly 15 feet away from them.

"It took him a while to get up. He was just relaxing," said Lewis. "He turned and looked at us like, 'How ya doin'?' ... He got up and walked away. He wasn't mean or anything."

Although the bear seemingly never showed any signs of aggression toward humans during its walking tour of Southern Jersey—every time it came across people, or vice versa, it ran away—authorities weren't taking any chances. Police tape strung around the scene kept onlookers at a distance.

Shortly after Fish and Wildlife arrived, a large net was set up about six feet off the ground at the base of the tree and the bear was shot with a tranquilizer.

It took several minutes for the bear to tumble—at one point he was hanging upside-down, one large leg draped across a tree limb—into the net. He landed headfirst, Hubbs said, but seemed none the worse for wear. The bear groggily stumbled out of the net and walked a short distance, where authorities finally captured him.

Hubbs said the bear was going to be taken to Brendan Byrne State Forest in Shamong Township. 

Days of breathless black bear sightings included stops at day cares and even a swim in Moorestown's Strawbridge Lake, as the bear roamed Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Maple Shade and Delran. The bear even got its own Twitter and Facebook accounts. 

Thursday was a fitting end to the bear's travels: He was corralled in Delran, whose athletic teams are the Bears, and in a front yard near where he was caught a resident had placed a black bear statue outside that read "Welcome."