LEOLA, Lancaster County — A Pennsylvania Game Commission officer helped capture the largest bear ever recorded in Lancaster County — an estimated 550-pound behemoth found sauntering through the back yard of a Leola home Thursday afternoon.
LancasterOnline reports that the bear was discovered by a resident of 151 Hess Road, who had brought her grandchildren for a visit when she spotted the bear in the yard behind her home.
The woman called the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and wildlife conservation officer Greg Graham arrived to find the bear in a pine tree, about 15 feet off the ground. Graham shot the bear with four tranquilizer darts before it came down from the tree and tried to make a run for it.
But the drugs took hold, and the bear took a nap.
As it turns out, the bear had been caught in Adams County on May 20. It was released onto state game lands, but somehow roamed all the way to Leola.
It’s back on state game lands again; the Game Commission released it in Stony Creek Valley, in Dauphin County.
