Vehicle hits bear; driver unhurt

KOSHKONONG, Mo. -- Vehicles striking deer are a common occurrence in Missouri. But a bear?

Connie Roberts of Brandsville in southern Missouri was driving a Chevy Blazer Sunday night as she, her husband and foster son returned home from a fishing trip when a black bear suddenly bolted into the roadway. She estimated she was driving 60 mph.

"I hollered 'bear,' and that was it," Roberts said. "After I hit it, I went back but couldn't find it."

A neighbor, David Miller, happened by and was able to locate the bear.

"David found it, but the bear wasn't dead," Roberts said. "It swiped a paw at him but it died a short time later."

A Missouri Department of Conservation agent said the male bear appeared to be old and had ear tags from Arkansas.

Conservation agent Paul Veatch estimated the animal struck by Roberts weighed about 300 pounds.

"Bear numbers are increasing each year, and they are moving around more this time of the year because it is their breeding season," Veatch said.

Veatch planned to take the bear to the Conservation Department office in West Plains. Wildlife Damage biologist Scott McWilliams said he will preserve the skull and do DNA testing from hair samples as part of a study of bears.

McWilliams has received two other reports of black bear spottings over the past two weeks -- one in Reynolds County, one in Shannon County.

The Conservation Department's Web site says the black bear is the smallest bear in North America and the only one native to Missouri. Adult males generally weigh 200 to 600 pounds, females 100 to 300 pounds. Although most bears in Missouri are black, color can vary from brown to blond.

The Web site says black bears have an acute sense of hearing and smell, but relatively poor eyesight. They are not considered particularly dangerous, but are unpredictable. The department says most injuries to people by black bears occur in campground setting and involve a "panhandler" bear.