This is the moment a black bear survives a 20-foot hard fall from a tree after being tranquilised in Utah.
The two-year-old male black bear had been perched in the trees at the base of Salt Lake City’s Capitol Hill and took a hard fall onto the road below but survived.
The state's Division of Wildlife Resources released the bear later Wednesday into a more ideal habitat in the mountains after the agency said it passed multiple health evaluations.
The young bear's urban adventure was cut short after wildlife officials shot it with tranquilliser darts, causing it to slip and fall on its climb down the tree, spokesperson Scott Root said.
They had been working to set up a truck beneath the tree to help break its fall but could not secure it in time.
The city's fire department and parks division had provided trucks with ladders and buckets to assist in removing the bear from the tree, but they were unsuccessful, wildlife spokesperson Faith Heaton Jolley said.
"The ladders could not be deployed until the bear was tranquillised so that they didn't scare the bear out of the tree," she said.
Crews then loaded the bear into a tube-like cage, administered a fast-acting drug to reverse the effects of the tranquillisers and tagged its ear to track its location.
Residents had gathered just a few blocks north of downtown to watch officials capture the animal, and many winced as it hit the ground.
However, bears are resilient creatures and have recovered from falls in the few past instances where local officials were unable to catch them, Mr Root said.
Black bears, the only bear species found in Utah, typically come out of hibernation in mid-March, but they are rarely spotted in the capital city despite its close proximity to the mountains, he said.
Officials said the bear was likely searching for food and water away from the dry foothills.
