Local

Roaming Atlanta Black Bear Caught And Moved To North Georgia

June 4th, 2018

The bear was found underneath a bridge near College Park MARTA Station parking lot.

Courtesy of Georgia DNR

A 2-year-old black bear, which had been roaming around South Atlanta was caught Monday morning by a trapper from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

“He was able to dart the bear, and we are currently taking it to Gainesville to get it tattooed and then we’ll relocate him in north Georgia,” Georgia DNR biologist Lee Taylor told WABE as he was riding in the truck with the sleeping bear.

The 160-pound animal was first spotted early Friday morning in front of the Fulton County Jail, where surveillance cameras caught him sniffing around trashcans.

On Monday morning the bear was seen in a MARTA maintenance yard in College Park. He was under a bridge when shot with a tranquilizer, Taylor said.

Black bears are solitary animals and usually don’t bother humans.

“All they want to do is find food and have a place to roam around and that’s what they’re doing,” Taylor said. “They’re not trying to attack people or be aggressive.”

North Georgia is a more natural habitat for the black bears and Georgia DNR officials have no idea how this one ended up south of downtown.

Black bears are not endangered, and Georgia does have a black bear hunting season, but killing this bear, Taylor said, was not necessary.

Correction: This report has been corrected to show the correct time of day the bear was first spotted.