NEW YORK, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A bear cub found dead in New York's Central Park died somewhere else and was dumped under a bush, police said Monday.
The carcass of the 3-foot cub was found shortly before 10 a.m. Monday. The cub was to be examined at the Bronx Zoo to find the cause of death.
The police department's animal cruelty squad was investigating the case.
"Most likely someone put it there," a law enforcement source told the New York Post.
Investigators said the bear was not from the Central Park Zoo. While bears have spread to residential areas in New Jersey and upstate New York, to get to Manhattan they would have to swim busy and polluted rivers or traverse some of the world's busiest bridges and tunnels.
Marianne Sponholtz, who volunteers with the Central Park Conservancy, said she was "shocked" by the discovery.
"I work in this zone and we've never found a bear cub," she told the Wall Street Journal. "They do find rats, occasionally a cat, but a bear cub, no."
