Crime & Safety

Bear Tranquilized After Visiting Parsippany Business Complex

The yearling was released in a park in Chester Township.

A bear seen Thursday at Parsippany's Octagon 10 office complex at 1719 Route 10 is now living in a wooded park in Chester Township.

report that officers including Bear Officer Michael Ruggier were dispatched to the complex after gettting a call that a black bear was spotted in the courtyard just off Route 10, which is surrounded by business buildings on three sides.

The bear was not aggressive, police said.

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Ruggiero and the other specially trained “bear officers” generally use a system called "adverse conditioning," which employs loud sounds and tracking to encourage bears to leave areas populated by humans. If those methods don't work, officers resort to firing non-lethal (and, police said, minimally painful) rubber buck shot rounds at a bear's hindquarters to convince him to leave.

Because of the proximity of Route 10, police said Ruggiero decided not to use the buck shot. Instead, he decided the safest thing to do was to sedate the animal.

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They called in the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to corral the critter.

Division spokesperson Larry Ragonese told Patch that the male bear was a yearling about 18 or 19 months old and weighed 144 pounds.

"He didn't cause any trouble, but as you can imagine, it disrupted the businesses," he said.

Fish and Wildlife officers found the bear hiding beneath ornamental shrubs.

"It was difficult to tranquilize him," Ragonese said. "He was hard to get to among a lot of tough leaves.

"Perhaps he wanted to become a hedge fund manager; after all, we found him under a hedge."

Ultimately, the bear was tranquilized safely. 

Fish and Wildlife officers transported the animal to Chester Township and released him in his new home, Black River County Park.

If you want to keep the bears away from your home, the PPD offers these tips for “bear-proofing” your yard:

  • Storing garbage in an airtight container in a secure area is the best method for prevention of nuisance problems. Garbage cans should be stored inside the home or in a shed until the morning of pick up or be equipped with bearproof lids.
  • Wash garbage containers at least once a week with a disinfectant solution to remove any odors
  • The outside feeding of dogs and cats should be done during daylight hours. All uneaten food scraps, as well as the food bowl, should be removed immediately after feeding.
  • Birdfeeders should be suspended from a free hanging wire so that the bottom of the bird feeder is at least 8 feet off the ground.
  • Black bears learn very quickly. Bears that associate food with people may become aggressive. This may lead to personal injury, property damage and the need to destroy problem animals.


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