Police escort black bear out of West Union

A wandering black bear left West Union under a police escort on Friday morning.

“He was pretty compliant,” said Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher, who used his own ATV to herd the bear to a timber about two miles northwest of town.

The bear, believed to be the same one seen Tuesday in Ridgeway, was spotted Friday just north of town between Highway 150 and County Road W42 about a half mile north of North Fayette schools.

After advising the school to keep students inside until the area was cleared, deputies blocked off a three-quarter mile stretch of Highway 150 so the bear could safely cross, said Fisher, who was assisted in the field by Chief Deputy Jim Davis.

The slowly unfolding process attracted a crowd, according to the sheriff. “We took our time because we did not want to overheat the bear or put him in a defensive posture,” Fisher said.

Fisher said his office last dealt with a black bear sighted near St. Lucas on June 25, 2008.

Bears are becoming almost annual visitors to northeast Iowa, said Jim Jansen, the Department of Natural Resources wildlife supervisor for that region.

While bears are not protected by law in Iowa, the DNR strongly discourages shooting or harassing them.

“They really would try to avoid people if given a choice, and they get aggressive only when threatened or cornered,” Jansen said

Bears in Iowa are almost always young males reared in Minnesota or Wisconsin and in search of their own territory, he said.

If left alone, they generally return to their state of origin, Jansen said.