A 227-lb. bear was captured outside the Hilton Library this morning on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood.
At about 2:58 a.m. this morning, Maplewood Police say they received a report of a bear walking through yards in the area of Burnett Avenue and Marion Terrace. Police responded to the area and located the bear, monitoring it as it traveled to the Hilton branch of the Maplewood Library at 1688 Springfield Avenue where it climbed a tree.
The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife was notified about the presence of the bear by Maplewood PD and arrived on scene to tranquilize and capture the bear with the assistance of Maplewood police officers and firefighters. The wildlife technicians, Chuck Sliker and Amy Decheser, placed a net under the tree to catch the falling bear safely. The bear will now be relocated through the Division of Fish and Wildlife.
See the full Maplewood Police press release below.
Photos of the incident were captured by Max Weisenfeld, Jeff Levine and Capt. Dawn Williams (see below).
See more photos on NJ.com (they’re really good) here.
NorthJersey.com reports bear sightings in Millburn last night. Read it here.
Click on photos to enlarge.
