By Jeff Lehr
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Interstate 44 dealt harshly Wednesday morning with a young, male black bear that dared to try to cross the busy highway.
State and area law enforcement agencies began receiving calls shortly after 10:30 a.m. about a bear in the median of I-44 near the 23-mile marker, east of the Joplin Regional Stockyards.
Sgt. Mike Watson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the bear apparently was struck and severely injured by a vehicle whose driver never stopped. The bear apparently crawled into the median, he said.
Adam Bracken, a state conservation agent assigned to Jasper County, said the bear was still alive when he and law enforcement officers arrived at the scene.
“It was moving around a little bit, but it wasn’t trying to get up and walk or anything like that,” Bracken said.
Paul Ayres, an animal control officer with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, shot the bear with a tranquilizer to allow Bracken and others to get the animal to veterinarian Ben Leavens at Main Street Pet Care in Joplin.
“We had to put him to sleep,” Leavens said. “His injuries were just too severe.”
One of the bear’s front legs was severely fractured, and the other front leg was broken at the elbow, he said. He also appeared to have massive internal injuries, he said.
“It looked to me like he rolled under a vehicle,” Leavens said.
The bear weighed 130 pounds and was about 5 feet long from nose to rump, the veterinarian said. Bracken estimated his height standing on his back legs at about 6 feet. They thought the bear was probably about 2 or 3 years old and otherwise healthy in appearance.
“They’re still fairly rare in this part of the state,” the conservation agent said.
He said blood and tissue samples would be taken for use by a Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife biologist in Jefferson City who is studying the bear population in the state. Bracken said the most recent estimate of that population is 300 to 400 black bears. Most sightings have been in south-central Missouri.
Bracken said the bear most likely will be skinned and tanned, with the pelt to be used for Department of Conservation school outreach and hunter education programs.
Bear sightings
There were multiple sightings of two black bears about two years ago in the Loma Linda area of Newton County, south of Joplin. There also have been a couple of sightings in the past five years in Jasper County, according to an area conservation agent.
