Bear That Traveled Through Several States Has Died in Louisiana
A bear that has amassed a huge social media following after traveling hundreds of miles through several states has died in Louisiana.
The bear's fans named him Bruno. Sue Kline, of Iowa, started a Facebook group, Keeping Bruno Safe, after he showed up in her state. She said because of the group, they were able to trace Bruno's whereabouts back to Wisconsin when people first took notice of him.
Bruno traveled through Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and even stopped to swim in the Mississippi River four times. He had to be tranquilized in Missouri and relocated to the northeast corner of the Ozark Mountains after he was stuck between two interstates and drew a crowd of hundreds last July in a suburb of St. Louis.
Overall, it's estimated that Bruno walked over 800 miles to finally get to Louisiana. Kline said he liked farmers' fields better than forests but never went for the easy pickings of human garbage cans or dumpsters. She went on to say through his whole journey, he never bothered humans even though he would walk through towns all the time.
Bruno was also not afraid of busy roadways, which would be his eventual demise. Louisiana Wildlife officials were called to a residence in Northeast Louisiana by the Arkansas/Louisiana line because a bear wouldn't leave the yard of a homeowner. He was badly hurt.
Louisiana Wildlife biologists on scene estimated Bruno had been injured for over a month before dragging himself to the Morehouse Parish residence. Maria Davidson, a large carnivore program manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said Bruno was in bad shape and that it was rough. Both of his legs were broken, and he had spinal cord injuries.
Davidson said the decision was made to euthanize Bruno because there was no way he was going to survive.
Why was Bruno traveling such a long distance? That remains a mystery. Many theories have been presented by Bruno's fans, like one that he was looking for love. Davidson says that it's very, very rare for an adult male bear to travel that type of distance and added that it's very strange behavior.