UPDATE AT NOON with information on capture of bear
After a short early morning stroll through a quiet residential neighborhood and a trip up a tree, a black bear has been captured near Tampa's Adventure Island.
Tampa Police called in trappers, who tranquilized the bear, caught it in a net and put it in a cage. The bear will be returned to its natural habitat.
Here are the bear facts (sorry, we had to get at least one pun in):
The episode started around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday when a Tampa Police officer responding to an unrelated call saw a large animal, estimated to be 6-feet tall, run by him.
According to a police news release, the officer wasn't sure if it was a bear or a very large dog. After determining it was a bear, he attempted to follow it.
The bear was spotted in a backyard in the 4200 block of E. Linebaugh Avenue before it climbed a tree around 7:30 a.m.
Officers said at the time that no one was in any danger, "as the bear seems content to remain in the tree."
It's not the first time a bear has been spotted in this area. In July 2012, a black bear was seen on the USF campus before being removed from a tree at Busch Gardens. Another black bear was captured in a tree in the Egypt Lake area in West Tampa in May 2013, and a black bear was seen this past weekend, eating out of a bird feeder near a house in Tampa Palms.
State wildlife officials recently announced that it will be holding a second annual black bear hunting period later this year. The hunts coincide with an increase in the state's bear population.
