VERNON, N.J. - Police in New Jersey had to euthanize a 175-pound bear after it wandered into a local store this week and attacked bit an elderly woman.
What we know:
Police first received reports of a bear behaving erratically on Route 94 near a Dollar General in Vernon around 1:39 p.m. Tuesday.
Officers tried using rubber bullets to get the bear to go away. It fled into the woods, before coming back about two hours later. Then the animal attacked a German shepherd and chased two employees outside the Goodfellas restaurant next door, before walking into the Dollar General.
Vernon Police said store staff tried to evacuate shoppers, but not before the bear bit a 90-year-old woman. Officials took her to the hospital with a leg injury.
Then, Sean Clarkin jumped in to try and coax the bear out of the store. Viral video shows Clarkin, a relator, guiding the bear through the aisles and into the parking lot.
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What they're saying:
Clarkin told FOX 5 New York that the bears in the area are attracted to the open dumpsters, and that when he saw the bear walk into the store, he knew he had to step in.
"When you run a business, you gotta run a lot of different hats," Clarkin said. "You can't worry about every problem, you worry about it one at a time. I just encouraged the bear the way I would with buying a house. Tried to clear a path ahead, handled it like it was any other task of buying a house."
Police found the bear in the parking lot and followed it to a property across the street, where NJ Fish and Wildlife euthanized it.
Businessowners and employees in the area told FOX 5 that while this area is bear counry, this one seemed off.
"It was just like a zombie," said Aaron Glading, owner of Goodfellas. "There was something definitely. He was sick…but he wasn't interested in food, and wasn't interested in anything else, and was just roaming."
"They were saying they had hit him a few times with rubber bullets to get him to go away back into the woods, but I heard nothing affected him, and he kept walking around," said Christine Flohr from Mountain Dispensary.
Dig deeper:
The bear's remains were collected by NJ Fish and Wildlife crews for rabies testing, which will take 3–5 days.
The Source: Information from this article was provided by the Vernon Township Police Department, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and interviews with witnesses.