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Black bear spotted in tree in Miami

By Daniel Uria
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MIAMI, July 22 (UPI) -- Police in Miami worked to capture a black bear that was spotted at the top of a tree on Friday afternoon in a suburban neighborhood.

According to WSVN, Miami-Dade police first received calls of a bear in a tree in the Cutler Bay area on Thursday, and received additional calls on Friday.

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Florida wildlife officers arrived on the scene to tranquilize the bear and began preparing to relocate it.

There are about 4,350 wild black bears in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation.

Ron Magill of the Miami zoo, however, told the local CBS affiliate that he believes the bear was not wild, but rather escaped from a nearby facility.

"Though it's not uncommon to find bears in residential neighborhoods in Florida, it is uncommon to find them in Cutler Bay," Magill said. "To have a Florida black bear that far south in this area is very uncommon. My suspicion is this is probably a bear that escaped from a rehab facility or some other facility but it's not really a wild black bear that has come down from the central part of the state."

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