Young bear euthanized after escaping vehicle on way to being released into the wild

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) - A young bear in Arizona had to be put down on Tuesday after it escaped a vehicle while on its way to being released in the wild.

Arizona’s Family reports the Prescott Valley Police Department had told the Arizona Game and Fish Department about sightings of a bear on Monday morning.

Authorities said they captured the animal later in the evening near Highway 89A.

According to wildlife officials, the bear, believed to be around 2 years old, was suitable for release into the wild and they put it in a transport vehicle to be driven out to a release site.

However, while crews were driving the bear on Tuesday, the animal managed to chew its way out of the transport carrier and escape into a neighborhood.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said the bear was running from one neighborhood to the next so workers couldn’t use a tranquilizer dart.

Officials said the team feared the bear could hurt someone. So, they ended up killing the animal.

“This is the first time that wildlife officials can recall a bear escaping from a transport carrier in this manner,” officials with the Arizona Game and Fish Department shared.

Officials said the carrier had been used “numerous times” without problems transporting bears and mountain lions.

Tuesday’s incident comes days after a bear was killed after it attacked a teen boy inside an eastern Arizona cabin.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said bears are common in the Prescott area.

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