BOULDER, Colo. – A 200-pound black bear that wandered onto the University of Colorado campus and caused a stir before falling 15-feet from a tree has been returned to the wild, officials said Friday.
State wildlife official Jennifer Churchill said that the male bear was tagged and taken to a remote Rocky Mountain area of ponderosa pines, with plenty of oak brush and chokeberry — food fit for a bear — west of Boulder.
Additional Photos
The bear has become a celebrity since it wandered around a university residence hall in Boulder and climbed a tree Thursday. Wildlife officers eventually tranquilized it, and the bear dropped from its perch onto pads placed on the ground.
A photographer with the CU Independent online student newspaper captured a shot of the bear, its arms and legs akimbo, as it fell.
The bear landed on its back before a crowd of gawking students. Some stroked its paws after it was caged.
“It was really a perfect landing,” campus police spokesman Ryan Huff told the Daily Camera.
Rhonda Chestnutt was putting coins into a parking meter near the Bear Creek student apartments Thursday when she felt shaggy fur brush her legs.
“It was like, ‘Excuse me, pardon me, coming through,’ ” she said.
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