Off-duty NJ officer shoots bear after confrontation

BYRAM, N.J. -- A bear had to be euthanized after it was shot in a confrontation with an off-duty police officer in New Jersey.

The Daily Record reports the Dover police officer was in Allamuchy State Park Tuesday morning hunting for deer when he inadvertently stepped on a female bear that was lying near a fallen log.

The bear bit Officer Walter Michalski on the leg and wouldn't let go, forcing Michalski to shoot and wound the bear.

Agents of the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife located the bear and euthanized it.

A DEP spokesman told the newspaper that during the original scuffle, the bear apparently crushed and killed two of her cubs. Two surviving cubs were taken to a wildlife refuge.

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Information from: Daily Record (Parsippany, N.J.)