500-pound bear living near Tennessee university is evicted due to its love of garbage

A trash-eating black bear had to be evicted from its home near Tennessee’s Tusculum University, after it topped a robust 500 pounds, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

It happened Wednesday, March 23, and photos show the behemoth was knocked unconscious before being taken to “a remote area of Cherokee National Forest.” The forest is near Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along the North Carolina state line.

Drastic measures were taken because the bear “had become habituated to human and unnatural foods,” the state reported.

“The bear had regular access to garbage, birdseed, and pet food and had been in the area for a few years. (It) ramped up its activity and property damage last year,” the state reported.

“Wildlife Officers decided to trap it then due to the increasing potential for negative interaction, but were unsuccessful after the bear changed its travel routine. Recent activity indicated it was back to its old ways.”

State officials did not release details of any incidents of students encountering a bear on the university’s campus. Tusculum University, founded in 1794, has a 140-acre “wooded” campus and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the school’s website.

The bear was eventually located on one of the empty lots of a nearby residential neighborhood, and subdued with a tranquilizer dart.

It proved to be so large, wildlife officers had to call the Greeneville (TN) Fire Department “to help move it to the transport cage,” state officials said. Photos show the firefighters tied the bear to a carriage and lifted it into the bed of a pickup truck.

Five hundred pounds (and seven feet in length) is considered the upper end for black bears in Tennessee, according to the state.

This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 10:14 AM with the headline "500-pound bear living near Tennessee university is evicted due to its love of garbage."