Police had no choice but to kill a 2-year-old bear roaming a White Bear Lake golf course because it posed a threat to the many people nearby at the time, a state Department of Natural Resources spokesman said Thursday.
The male black bear was shot by city police near the Manitou Ridge Golf Course's 15th fairway Wednesday night. It is believed to be the same one spotted earlier in the week in Mahtomedi, White Bear Lake police said.
"There was a lot of human activity going on," said DNR spokesman Harland Hiemstra. "People playing golf, playing disc golf nearby, across the street a baseball game going on."
White Bear Lake police Capt. Randy Johnson said the bear was near Lakewood Hills park and an apartment complex. Also, the fencing on the golf course would have let the bear into the back yards of several homes, he said, adding they were called about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The bear was in a trash bin for a time, then moved into some woods, DNR spokesman Harland Hiemstra said. It was then that police consulted with a DNR conservation officer and decided it was now safe to "dispatch" the animal, Hiemstra said. Officers fired several shots, Johnson added.
Earlier, as the bear ambled about, "people were gathering around taking pictures," Hiemstra said. "Police couldn't keep the people back. One guy wanted to go over and touch it."
One man told police he was within 15 feet of the bear. "That's not a wise thing to do," Johnson said.
Hiemstra said merely tranquilizing the bear was not practical: "It's not the way it works, like on TV."
