The mysterious death of a male black bear cub whose corpse was discovered in the parking lot of a Staten Island strip mall on Monday morning is being investigated by police.
While New York is home to between 6,000 and 8,000 black bears, the majority reside in two of the state's three major mountain ranges, the Catskills and the Adirondacks, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Staten Island has no known bear population, so the cub's sudden appearance has thrown both local authorities and residents for a loop.
Some, including wildlife expert Kelly Simonetti, believe that the cub is native to New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Simonetti told local news station PIX11 that the cub was most likely found and killed in one of those two states. In her capacity as the director of Antler Ridge Wildlife Sanctuary in Warren County, New Jersey, she has been overseeing the rescue and rehabilitation of injured mammals for nearly two decades.
"Who knows why they would dump it or do something like that," she said. "It's absolutely tragic."
Investigators with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) also believe that the cub died elsewhere. The bear was between a year and 16 months old at the time of death, according to NBC New York.
The corpse was found around 7 a.m. in the neighborhood of New Springville, according to PIX11. According to SILive.com, it bore signs of significant trauma, including a "large open wound" on the left side of the torso.
"I'm not an expert, but it looked like it was wounded a lot because its arm was broken and its leg was....it looked like it was hit by a car," witness Ali Abisse said, according to WABC. He added that he believed that the cub had been dead for approximately a day by the time it was found.
The bizarre nature of the case has Staten Island residents talking.
"Either it swam across the bridge or walked across the bridge or somebody physically found it dead or attacked it and then panicked," resident Eddie Rodriguez told PIX11. "They probably live in this neighborhood and they dumped it."
By contrast, resident Donald Przybyazewsk has a hunch that the cub may not have arrived on the island of his own volition.
"Somebody might've had it as a pet," he said. "Or they killed it somewhere else and dropped it here or they wanted to skin it, maybe?"
The corpse was claimed by the DEC and will be necropsied to determine the precise cause of death. It weighed approximately 100 pounds, according to SILive.com.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
