Curious bear wanders into a Pittsburgh area mall

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NEW YORK — Shoppers at a Sears department store in the US state of Pennsylvania were evacuated after an unwanted guest — a young female bear — wandered in over the weekend, local media said.

The animal became trapped Saturday night after entering the Sears store in the Pittsburgh Mills mall, located northeast of the city of Pittsburgh, through the automatic doors, the reports said.

Shopper Matt Marcinik told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he had seen the bear running across the mall’s parking lot before it went into the store.

“It was running up and down the aisles,” Marcinik told the newspaper. “It darted past several people. They didn’t even know it was a bear.”

Wildlife officials shot the roughly 125-pound (57-kilogram) bear — which was wearing a tracking device — with a tranquilizer and captured it.

No injuries were reported.

Photo public domain via Wikimedia Commons