Black Bear said to be World Record as Controversy over Kill Surmounts
Largest bear ever recorded in PA history
Game Commission officials are now saying that the black bear killed in the Poconos on Monday may be a world record.
The bear weighed in with a live weight of 879 pounds and a field-dressed weight of 744 pounds.
Game Commission officials confirmed that David Price of Barrett Township killed the 17-year-old bear.
While Price and fellow sportsmen may be celebrating this massive record-breaking kill, others are not so happy.
The bear is rumored to have been hand-fed, tame, and even gone by the name “bozo”. Some locals have reported that the group of hunters responsible for killing the bear knew it was tame and were lying in ambush for the easy kill.
But, an easy kill it was not. It reportedly took 3 hunters a total of 9 shots to bring the bear down.
Despite the controversy over the kill, the PA Game Commission has said that Price did nothing wrong. In fact, the man responsible for feeding the bear and possibly ultimately leading to the bear’s demise, was cited last month for feeding the bear.
The bear was killed using crossbows, a factor that is only adding fuel to the controversy as some argue that such hunting is cruel.
Whether or not the bear is indeed a world record holder is yet to be determined. Officials say a skull measurement will be the true test and we’ll need to wait 60 days for that.
NOTE: This story has been updated: http://coudynews.com/?p=13153
