LANCASTER COUNTY -- The juvenile black bear that famously made a two-day visit to Lancaster over the summer was killed in Schuylkill County by a hunter, the Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed Wednesday.
The bear was legally harvested around 3:30 p.m. Saturday by a hunter on State Game Lands in New Castle Township, located in northern Schuylkill County between St. Clair and Frackville, a Game Commission spokesperson told FOX43.
The Game Commission believes the bear was a juvenile, about two years old. Its live weight was an estimated 199 pounds.
No other information on the hunter was available from the Game Commission.
The bear was captured in Lancaster on August 15. It had been spotted in the city a day earlier and cornered in a tree that night, but escaped without being apprehended.
On the morning of April 15, it was spotted again on the 200 block of N. Mary Street, where it again took to a tree. Game wardens were eventually able to shoot it with a tranquilizer dart. As onlookers gasped below, the bear fell from the treetop after the tranquilizers took effect. It was then weighed and tagged by game wardens, who assured the gathered crowd that the bear was OK after its fall.
Game wardens took it to Cold Springs Township in rural Lebanon County, where it was released.
From there, it apparently roamed into Schuylkill County, where it was taken by the hunter.
A spokesperson for the Game Commission said it is not uncommon for bears to travel up to 20 miles a day.