Treed bear draws crowd in TC neighborhood

May 14—TRAVERSE CITY — Lulling a 350ish-pound black bear to sleep in the heart of a Traverse City neighborhood took patience, even with help from a fourth tranquilizer dart.

So a crowd that gathered on Fifth Street near Maple Street Sunday morning waited, and watched as the groggy bear stirred in his tree branch perch over the front lawn of a nearby house.

And waited. And watched as more onlookers joined, and as morning became afternoon.

Traverse City Police officers, whose cruisers blocked the street, along with Department of Natural Resources biologists and conservation officers, tried to quiet the crowd. Most obliged, but the rest of the city didn't relent: a neighbor mowed the lawn, a loud compressor droned a block away, a few car alarms blared and a fire truck blew its horn and siren as it rolled down Division Street.

The bear eventually dozed off, its hind legs dangling below the branch and a few tranquilizer darts sticking out of its rump.

Two Traverse City Light & Power employees used a bucket truck to move closer to the bear, where DNR Wildlife Assistant Mike Kowalski said they planned to harness it using a "dead man rescue" technique and lower it to the ground.

At least that was the plan. The bear fell just after 1 p.m. as the crew worked to secure it, landing on some mattresses DNR conservation officers placed below. Several people in the crowd said they were worried about the bear getting hurt if it fell, and Grand Traverse County Commissioner Ashlea Walter volunteered some mattresses from her house across the street.

DNR Wildlife Technician Angela Herban said the bear landed "butt-first" on a mattress, and Steve Griffith, a department wildlife biologist, agreed the fall went about as well as could be hoped.

"They're a tough animal, obviously they are in trees all the time and they do have accidents in the wild," Griffith said earlier. "But in general, no, they can take a pretty good fall."

Kowalski, Herban and Griffith raced to the bear's side, removing the darts and checking the bear's vital signs. That included making sure the animal's airways were clear and its breathing rate was good, Herban explained. They also checked the pulse and temperature of the bruin, a male she estimated to be 350 pounds and some years old.

City police, firefighters and DNR conservation officers helped haul the bear in a canvass carrier to a bear trap — a large metal tube on a trailer with a sliding door on one end.

"Now he'll go for a long ride, probably 50-60 miles at minimum," Griffith said.

Biologists intend to make sure the bear is awake and moving before letting it go, he added.

That came as good news to Walter, who said she was glad to hear the "beautiful animal" was alive and about to be relocated.

Neighbors Mark and Annette Andersen watched the spectacle from their front porch, with Mark Andersen taking photos and even posing with a giant stuffed bear next to a DNR bear trap trailer.

The two had just returned from a trip to the Upper Peninsula — no wildlife sightings there, he said. He heard voices outside early in the morning and saw police in the street. After waking up Annette, the two saw a DNR truck as well.

"Right away I thought: 'Bear in a tree,'" she said.

She was right. Kowalski said Grand Traverse County Central Dispatch emailed around 6:40 a.m. about a bear in the neighborhood, and the animal was treed when the DNR arrived about 20 minutes later.

It wouldn't be the first time, either. Griffith said the last time the DNR responded to a bear in a tree was 12 years ago in the same vicinity.

Several other neighbors recalled that bear, including Theresa Corcoran. She remembered how the bear would run down the street, followed by police then the neighborhood kids. One time it ran past their window, catching her husband unaware as he read the paper.

It's not uncommon for black bears to wander through town. Griffith confirmed that a mother bear and two cubs were reported in recent weeks in the city's northeast corner.

"We got a couple good corridors, you know, the Boardman River, Kids Creek and some green spaces that, unfortunately, tend to lead animals into Traverse City," he said.

But Corcoran, the Andersens and others said they hadn't heard of bears raiding trash cans or bird feeders in recent days. Griffith reminded people to keep bird feeders indoors and secure trash cans.

Still others hoped the bear wouldn't suffer the fate of one the DNR relocated in 2021. The department had to euthanize it after it returned to Traverse City.

As everyone waited for the bear to sleep, parents pointed out the animal to young children, neighbors watched and wondered aloud what could be done for the creature and others chatted and socialized.

"It's like the best block party ever," Annette Andersen said.

After the bear was loaded on the vehicle, the crowd dispersed and went on with their Mother's Day activities as a conservation officer drove the bear trap away.