05:43 PM PDT on Sunday, May 21, 2006

By RAY LANE / KING 5 News

SEATTLE – Early Sunday morning, police scrambled through a Ravenna Park neighborhood, trying to nab an elusive suspect after reports of a very unlikely prowler.

"I thought it must have escaped from a zoo. I've never heard of any bears in the city like this," said Chrysta Palmer.

About an hour after the initial sightings, the black bear was found underneath someone's back deck.

"I have learned over the years, never to say never. If people say they've got a bear in my backyard, I have to believe them," said Sgt. Kim Chandler of the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Wildlife officials moved in with tranquilizer darts loaded with powerful drugs to calm down the young male, believed to weigh about 150 to 200 pounds, about 3 years old.

KING

A 150 to 200 pound black bear was killed in Seattle's University District Sunday morning.

But Chandler said sadly, the bear put up too much of a fight in an area that is too populated. The risk was too great to lose track of bear in the dark of night.

"He’s right here on frat row … people walking around. This is not a place we want a bear. We hate to have to kill a bear. But in this situation that's something that happened," said Chandler.

So after a pair of tranquilizer hits to the shoulder and rear, police pulled out their taser guns and shocked the animal.

The bear died at the scene.

"We did everything that we could … less than lethal … the drugs, the taser.. I think that combination just didn't work out right," said Chandler.

Fish and Wildlife agents believe that this bear actually could have been one of two bears recently seen in the Shoreline area, and that he just made his way south, traveling at night and sleeping during the day.