Have You Ever Seen a Tranquilized Bear Fall from a Tree?
No, seriously. Have you ever seen a tranquilized bear fall from a tree? Because a whole bunch of people at the University of Colorado Boulder just did.
-Lucia Peters, BettyConfidential.com
This is a very serious question: Have you ever seen a tranquilized bear fall from a tree before? No? Well, now you have. See above.
True story: Last Thursday, a bear was spotted wandering around the University of Colorado Boulder campus (because apparently this is what happens when you go to school in Colorado). According to the University of Colorado's student-run newspaper, the CU Independent, the campus police department received a phone call around 8am that morning reporting the sighting. It seems that the bear had managed to climb up a tree near the CU dorms, where it stayed for roughly two and a half hours. At 10:17am, wildlife officials were able to tranquilize the bear-while it was still in the tree, mind you. The doped-up bear then fell from the tree safely onto some mats below provided by the university's Recreation Center at about 10:28am.
And miraculously, CU senior and photographer for the Independent Andy Duann managed to capture the precise moment in which the bear, which was estimated at between one and three years old and weighed approximately 200 pounds, toppled from the tree and floated majestically downward. How's that for timing?
Honestly, I don't really have a whole lot to add to this story except to state that it's really really funny Perhaps the best part are the sound bytes that People managed to snag from Ryan Huff, a spokesman for the campus police. "He rested on a branch and stayed there for about two hours," Huff said, followed by, "He was just hanging out in the tree." Because that's what bears do. The bear also appears to have athletic, and possibly Olympic, aspirations; here's what Huff had to say about his landing: "The bear landed on his back in what seemed to be a perfect landing." Ladies and gentlemen, it's a perfect 10 for the bear!
Anyway, the bear has since been caged and will be relocated to a higher elevation. Oddly enough, this isn't the first time this academic year a wild animal has been found in close proximity to a CU dormitory; a mountain lion apparently made an appearance this past October. On a more serious note, should we be worried that the wild kingdom is starting to take back the land that the humans have taken from them? Maybe; after all, the elephants haven't been too happy with us lately, either. Food for thought.
It's still kind of funny, though. It may not be quite as funny as a baby seal making himself comfortable on your couch… but it's close!
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