STORM2K

300-Pound Bear Wanders Through Hospital
Bear Activates Door Sensor To Enter Building

POSTED: 11:55 am EDT June 16, 2004
UPDATED: 3:37 pm EDT June 17, 2004
ROCKY MOUNT, Va. -- A 300-pound black bear was filmed wandering the halls of a hospital in Virginia after it activated a front door sensor and walked into the building, according to a Local 6 News report.

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The bear wandered in front of Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital at about 9:10 p.m. Tuesday night and activated a sensor that opens the hospital's doors, police said.

The bear walked down a few hallways and into a computer room, said Lt. Karl Martin of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Two police officers yanked the door shut behind it.

Officers planned to sedate the bear, but because the hospital was nearly full they worried about it getting loose.

An officer shot the bear twice and killed it, Martin said.

Copyright 2004 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The poor bear!

Eric

I do agree.. I think they should have just calmly escorted the bear back to his habitat.

Someone on our local news said they even kept it the nursery for a while lol

Josephine96 wrote:I do agree.. I think they should have just calmly escorted the bear back to his habitat.

Someone on our local news said they even kept it the nursery for a while lol

Calmly escort? You mean like in handcuffs? John the game wardens try to avoid killing animals but in this case it was justified.

Maybe the bear was sick and wanted medical attention..

Josephine96 wrote:An officer shot the bear twice and killed it, Martin said.

Guess it didn't have insurance..

Sad for the bear, but a hospital is not a place to take chances with a wild animal of that size. I'm sure the authorities did the right thing.

If they had him trapped in a room they could've kept him there until the sedative kicked in. Am I missing something?

I don't think you're missing anything Steph. That's what I would have thought.. They could have left him in there till the sedative kicked in and then calmly found a way to get him out.

Like I said before.. Maybe he was sick and needed medical attention

Stephanie wrote:If they had him trapped in a room they could've kept him there until the sedative kicked in. Am I missing something?

Stephanie its possible a sedative wasnt readily available. Im not sure if tranquilizer darts are standard issue with game wardens. I agree its sad the bear had to be killed (Im a bear admirer..dont tell anyone) but the safety of the people in the hospital had to come first.

George - I'm going by "the officers planned to sedate the bear" statement. Maybe it wasn't readily available. I agree that the safety of the patients need to come first, but to me, something isn't adding up.

That's horrible, they shouldn't have killed it! I'm sure they have some sort of tranquilizer at the hospital. Well, the people should be safe first.....