Bear shot in town of Middleton
10:37 PM 6/17/02
Barry Adams Police reporter

indent TOWN OF MIDDLETON - A 225-pound black bear was shot and killed Monday in a residential neighborhood near the city of Madison border.
indentWildlife officials think the 2-year-old male may have been forced to the southern part of the state by other bears.
indent"There's good habitat here, but it's developed," said Bill Ishmael, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. "I wish he would have gone north."
indentWisconsin has about 14,000 bears. A necropsy indicated the animal was stressed and was not a captive animal, Ishmael said.
indentThe bear, which was shot at about 11:25 a.m. behind a home at 3265 S. High Point Road, is thought to be the same bear spotted over a six-day span in three counties.
indent"I've seen a lot of deer on our property," said Ann Nelson, who lives north of Pine Bluff, which is on Highway P near Cross Plains. She saw a bear Sunday night. "You never expect to see a bear."
indentThe bear showed up at University Ridge golf course Monday morning. Officials hoped it would climb a tree so they could shoot it with a tranquilizer, but it continued to move toward more populated areas where it posed a danger.
indentIn order to be properly tranquilized, the bear would have had to be still so that it could be hit with two doses; otherwise, it could run off a single dose, thus making it ineffective.
indent"It was really sad," said Dane County Sheriff's Deputy Jay O'Neil, who shot the bear. "It's a beautiful creature."
indentThe animal died about 250 yards from Kids Express Learning Center, a school with a nature-based theme.
indent"It was a big surprise," said teacher Sherri Daley, who moved her 12 students, ages 3 to 5, inside on police orders. "It's not something that's the norm."