PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say a black bear killed by a pickup truck on Washington Highway 16 in Kitsap County is believed to be the same bear that put an elementary school on alert earlier in the day.
A staffer at Hidden Creek Elementary School in Port Orchard, Wash., spotted a bear and three coyotes on the campus Thursday morning before students started arriving.
The Kitsap Sun reports (http://is.gd/91WpzI) that Kitsap County deputies responded and the animals wandered back into the woods. A South Kitsap School District spokeswoman says staff members met arriving buses and escorted children inside. Parents were cautioned not to let their children walk to school.
State Fish and Wildlife agents checked the campus but didn’t find the bear. Then about 4 1/2 hours later, a bear was killed on the highway. Sgt. Ted Jackson says wildlife agents believe it’s the same animal because of the bear’s size, the timing and the nearness to the school.
