Black bear killed near White Bear Lake golf course

Photo: Schmuck by Nature

The cougar, you may remember, wandered off into Wisconsin and hasn't been heard from since. But on Wednesday night, police shot a 2-year-old black bear near Manitou Ridge Golf Course in White Bear Lake.

The bear, thought to be the same animal seen earlier in the week in Mahtomedi, hadn't actually harmed anyone. It was rooting around in some garbage cans for a while, and had moved into some nearby woods.

In fact, it sounds like the crowd that gathered to gawk at the wee beastie was the actual problem. The police couldn't keep them at bay.

"There were a lot of people around: golfers, disc golfers, a baseball game nearby," DNR spokesman Harland Hiemstra told the Pioneer Press. "One guy wanted to go up and touch it."

Can't have cops firing into crowds of humans, though. Bad form. And Hiemstra said forget about those TV shows where wild animals are brought to heel by a tranquilizer gun. Cops don't carry them, and wouldn't know how to use them anyway.

So the bear took the bullets.