Bear hit, killed by car after sighting on UC Davis campus, authorities say
Authorities said a bear reportedly spotted on the UC Davis campus Wednesday morning was fatally struck by a vehicle on a nearby highway, with its body located and picked up by animal control.
“Brown Bear sighting, about 200 lbs, UC Davis campus,” read an initial alert sent through the university’s WarnMe system around 6 a.m. “Please avoid the area of the arboretum, La Rue RD and the South East area of campus until authorities can get it contained.”
The UC Davis Police Department said in a social media post around 7:15 a.m. that Yolo County animal control personnel had “located and picked up the bear” near Highway 113 and Interstate 80, a few miles away from the arboretum.
UC Davis spokesman Andy Fell confirmed a short time later that the bear died after being struck by a vehicle on Highway 113.
Bear sightings at UC Davis are rare but not unprecedented. In June 2019, a 100-pound male was spotted on campus, then tracked, tranquilized and released into the wild.
This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
