Bear at Mall is Second in Two Days (VIDEO)
Pittsburgh officials have laid a trap to catch a black bear repeatedly seen near the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer. This is the second of two bears terrorizing the same area.
According to Matt Kramer, a wildlife conservation officer, a camouflaged canister with the words "Danger Bear Trap" has been left in the store's parking lot. Officials have baited the trap with various sweets in order to lure the mature black bear into the contraption.
Over the weekend, authorities had to remove a small black bear from the vicinity and used tranquilizers to safely transport it to the country. Tom Fazi, a spokesman for the Game Commission told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the bear had been wearing a tracking collar and had traveled a significant distance to be at the Pittsburgh Mills.
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"We've got quite a few bears making their way through Alleghney County," Fazi explained.
The smaller black bear was brazen enough to enter the mall and roam around in a Sears store, taking shoppers by surprise. "The bear just walked up to the automatic doors, they opened, and he just ran in," Brian Grant told TribLive.com. "One of our officers arrived here and saw people running out the doors."
The small bear weighed approximately 120 pounds and was safely removed from the mall, though not before wandering through the store, even after being tranquilized.
"It was probably more frightened than anything," Dan Puhala, a wildlife conservation officer, explained. "For the most part, that bear wanted to get away from everybody."
Now authorities have laid a safe, humane, trap for the second bear. Authorities have speculated that both bears may have been attracted to the smell of food coming from the mall. In that case, officials have baited the bear trap with plenty of sweets to entice the larger bear to have a snack.
Watch a video of the smaller black bear's shopping trip HERE:
