Published Friday, August 9, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
State game officials are trying to figure out how and why a 100-pound gutted bear carcass ended up floating in the Shenango River.
A man who was fishing in the river under the Kelly Road Bridge near the Sharpsville Recreation Area found the bear Sunday morning, according to the state game commission and Pete O'Connell, Resource Manager at the Shenango River Lake.
The fisherman reported the find, about a half mile below the Shenango Dam, to Dick Hetrick, maintenance leader at the Army Corps of Engineers office.
The bear appeared to be shot with a high-powered rifle and its entrails were removed, the game commission said, but the bear's death is still under investigation because of the animal's advanced state of decomposition.
"At this point in the investigation, we are unsure where or when the bear was killed," said District Wildlife Conservation Officer Jim Donatelli, the lead investigator of the case. "Even if this bear was killed legally during a hunting season, there would still be violations for wanton waste and dumping the carcass in the river."
Last year's bear season ran for three days before Thanksgiving, so the bear may have been in a freezer and removed or was killed out of season, said Regis Senko, Information Education Supervisor for the state commission. "We don't even know if it was from Pennsylvania," Senko said.
O'Connell said that they had never had an incident like this in the area, but said that live bears occasionally come through this region. "There's not a high population of bears in Mercer County," said O'Connell.
The state game commission asked for help from the public for information concerning the bear since the recreation area is used by many visitors during the summer.
"Somewhere out there somebody heard or saw something related to this case," Donatelli said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Northwest Region Office at (877) 877-0299. All information will be kept confidential.