Tranquilized Bear Drops Out of Tree

After several bear sightings recently reported in Livingston, Cedar Grove, Fairfield and Montclair, a black bear was tranquilized Tuesday morning near the Montclair Art Museum and Edgemont School.

A black bear cub perched in a tree in a small Montclair park captivated onlookers for more than three hours Tuesday morning. 

The bear was monitored by Montclair Police from about 7 to 10 a.m. by using hammers and branches to make noise and contain it to its branch about 12-feet above the ground in a tree in Watchung Park.

Around 9 a.m. a crew from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife arrived to tranquilize and remove the bear to a wooded location.

An hour later, a tranquilizer shot to the bear’s paw in the park caused it after about six minutes to become woozy and slip down the tree. He dropped safely into a net held by several members of the Montclair and Fire department.

Outside play and activities were prohibited at Montclair public elementary and middle schools Tuesday on account of the bear, according to a notice sent to parents from the district superintendent. A similar restriction was placed at Hillside Elementary School on Monday after reports of a black bear on Myrtle Avenue. 

Montcliar Police Det. Lt. Angel Roman said he believed Monday's bear is the same one that ended up in the Watchung Park tree. Roman estimated the bear to be about a year old and weigh between 200 and 250 pounds.

"It's probably just scurrying around for food," Roman said.

A large crowd stood around the perimeter of the park right outside Watchung Plaza and across from the Watchung Avenue train station, taking hundreds of pictures and videos with their cell phones, iPads and SLR cameras.

Even though the work day had started, many like Becky Koch stuck around to watch the bear unwilling to miss any action.

“As soon as I turn the corner, the bear is going to jump out of the tree,” Koch said.

Nancy Arny Pi-Sunyer compared the sighting to Buzz Aldrin’s visit to his hometown of Montclair two days earlier.

“I admire both Buzz and bears,” Arny Pi-Sunger said with a laugh. “They are both very brave and they have both gone up very high.”

Roman said he has been working in Montclair for 20 years and has not heard of a bear before.