Wily bear with sweet tooth trapped by Pennsylvania town using doughnuts from Dunkin’
The rambling bear that put a small Pennsylvania township on edge for a week was captured Monday night after officials used a low-tech trap with delicious doughnuts, according to the Valley Township Police Department.
The exact type of doughnut was not divulged, but it apparently didn’t matter to the bear.
“Seems our bear has a sweet tooth and at about 9:45 last night it walked into the cage where is was safely held,” the department posted on Facebook. “The bear was not harmed and no humans were injured, but the donuts didn’t make it.”
Police Chief Brian Newhall told McClatchy News he’s not sure of the type of doughnuts because wildlife officers went to Dunkin’ and bought whatever was left at closing time — whether they had sprinkles or not.
“As cops, we stay away from the powdered ones, because they make a mess,” he added in a phone interview.
Rumors of a “5-feet-tall, 250-pound” bear roaming the township, 55 miles west of Philadelphia, surfaced last week, prompting police to issue a series of warnings.
“Please don’t pet, feed, poke, or try to catch the bear. No one may shoot the bear either,” the department said in a Facebook post.
As concerns grew, police began posting near daily updates on the bear’s extensive travels (reports were spread across three miles) and what the Pennsylvania Game Commission was doing to catch it. In an effort to maintain transparency, police warned neighbors on June 18 that a trap “loaded” with doughnuts had been set.
The bear, a young male, fell for it a day later. He was carted off last night to be released in a less populated area of Union County, in north central Pennsylvania, police said.
“It left a path of destruction — in broken bird feeders — throughout the township. But it’s not like I can cite the bear. It’s not like it’s going to come to court,” Newhall told Mcclatchy News.
The fact that doughnuts were used by cops to catch a bear did not go unnoticed by social media. Tens of thousand of people have read, shared and reacted to the department’s posts and the jokes have been endless.
This includes a man named Richard Massi who put out an “urgent plea for help” in the community to help restock the department’s depleted selection of doughnuts.
“I really wish there was a picture of the bear with powdered sugar of a donut,” Kimberly Beatty wrote on the department’s Facebook page.
“Shouldn’t we hold a moment of silence in remembrance of the donuts that were tragically lost last night?” Jonathan D. Egger added.
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Wily bear with sweet tooth trapped by Pennsylvania town using doughnuts from Dunkin’."