Bear Cub Trapped Inside School In Eureka, Missouri, Video Goes Viral

A bear cub, about 18 months old, was removed from a school in Eureka, Missouri, after it got trapped in the premises Tuesday.

Father Joe Kempf, the pastor of Most Sacred Heart Parish, said the school was out for the year. However, one of the cleaning staff must have left one of the entrances of the building open during maintenance work, enabling the furry animal to find its way into the institution.

A video of the bear moving inside the school was posted on the Facebook page of Eureka Community with the caption, “He was probably upset to find out he missed the famous fish fry! In all seriousness we hope this young bear made it out safely.” At one point in the short clip, the 90-pound animal was seen standing on its hind legs, trying to find its way out of one of the rooms.

The video, posted Tuesday has since gone viral, viewed over 85,000 times and shared more than 1,500 times. St. Louis Review reporter Joseph Kenny said staff members of the school were forced to rearrange the furniture inside the property and remove some statues to keep the bear from clawing into them.

The Missouri Department of Conservation told Fox 2 Now that the officials tried to lure the cub out of school premises but the animal refused to budge. As a result, they were forced to tranquilize it before removing it from the property. The department’s spokesman Dan Zarlenga said the young age of the bear might explain why the animal had wandered into the human territory.

“This is a real common time period when the parents will push those males out of the den so they can make room for the young cubs and so he could be out exploring and learning the world for the first time and getting into all kinds of mischief,” Zarlenga said. He added that the bear was released into a wooded area of Jefferson County away from homes and businesses.

Zarlenga advised people to keep trash containers sealed or airtight in the garage until it was time for them to be dumped, in order to avoid providing open food sources for wild animals.

“This would include pet food for your cats and your dogs. This could include a grill that you haven’t cleaned off, you know? There could still be some grease or meat left on it,” Zarlenga said. “Do not feed bears deliberately because there’s a saying that 'a fed bear is a dead bear.’ Once a bear is fed, habituated to humans, it really creates a behavioral problem and it’s not good for the people and it’s not good for the bear in the end either.”