Black Bear Tranquilized and Captured In Rockland County

A black bear that strayed onto the Pfizer campus in Pearl River today was safely captured this afternoon after a two-and-a-half-hour encounter, according to Orangetown police.

Police were told around noon today that the bear, a 150-pound male black bear, was wandering around the sprawling Pfizer campus off Middletown Road. Several town police officers went to investigate and they followed the bear until it climbed up a tree, according to Police Chief Kevin Nulty.

Police called state environmental officers for assistance and a biologist went to Pearl River to help with the bear's capture. Nulty said that while the bear was in the tree the state biologist was able to shoot the animal with a tranquilizer gun.

Volunteers from the Pearl River Fire Department had been called in to assist police and set up a safety net to catch the bear. Nulty said the bear fell from the tree and landed in the net after being tranquilized.

Nulty said no one was injured and that the bear was not hurt during its capture. The bear, estimated to be about 18 months old, did not have a tag that would indicate it had been captured and recorded previously by state scientists. Nulty said the bear was to be tagged and would be set free in the woods of Sterling Forest in Orange County.

Nutly said the bear did cause a bit of a commotion in the Middletown Road area, but that traffic was not significantly affected. He did note, however, that his department had to request that a news helicopter that was flying over the scene leave the area.

"The helicopter was disturbing the bear," Nulty said.