Bear Cub Found Dead In New York's Central Park Likely Hit by a Vehicle

October 7,2014




Two women walking their dogs in New York's Central Park on Monday found a dead bear cub under a bush. But although authorities initially suspected the animal may have been dumped there, a necropsy shows the bear cub was likely hit by a motor vehicle and wasn't the victim of animal cruelty.
State wildlife officials announced the animal's cause of death Tuesday.
Bears are not among the park's known wildlife population, and there are no bears at the Central Park Zoo. No bears were reported missing from other zoos.
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One of the women, Florence Slatkin, said she and a friend were leaving the park when her friend's terrier spotted something near a bicycle lying on the ground.
"At first, we thought it was a bag of clothes or maybe a dead dog," said Slatkin, a retired transit administrator who lives near the park.
But then, as they got closer, they realized it was a very small bear "with its mouth wide open and scratches on the side."
The cub's head was on top of the back bicycle wheel, Slatkin said.
"It was terrible, and it was the strangest thing," she added. "Why was the bike there?"
Police later dusted the bicycle for prints.