In the end, ’twas schoolkids that killed the beast.
North Jersey cops fatally shot a 250-pound black bear (right) yesterday after a two-day chase that kept Newark and its suburbs on edge.
Livingston police said the bear, apparently confused and sickly, was cornered and shot in an Irvington back yard because it had strayed too near a school area.
“My big fear was the kids starting to drift through from school,” said Irvington Deputy Police Chief Steven Palamara. “Any animal that starts getting scared will be unpredictable.”
Cops said they put the animal down (inset) at around 1:30 p.m. after it got up and moved toward a Morris County animal-control officer approaching with a tranquilizer gun.
“The animal-control officer backed away, and one of the [police] officers shot him four to five times,” Palamara said.
The doomed animal was initially spotted in Essex County at 3 a.m., then in Orange County later in the morning, setting off a scramble by shotgun-toting cops. By 5 a.m., it resurfaced in Newark, where police set up a command post and went door to door warning citizens. Then finally, at lunchtime, it rumbled into nearby Irvington.
The beast was hard to ignore, since it was hopping backyard fences as if it was warming up for the Olympic high hurdles.
“When I came, the bear was jumping fences like he was an athlete or something,” said Animal Control Officer Alex Kelly. “He looked sick around the eyes. He didn’t look like a typical healthy bear.”