Some are calling him Wellington the Bear.
Punsters have nicknamed him Aurora Bearialis. But folks in Aurora yesterday were abuzz over the young black bear that took up residence in a tall willow tree.
“I just didn’t want anybody to hurt him,” said one bashful youngster who watched the mini-drama unfold in downtown Aurora.
In the end, Warren May, a biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources, jabbed the bear with a tranquilizer syringe at the end of a long pole, eventually putting the young animal to sleep.
He explained that young bears “tend to move around” and this one may well have been in Newmarket a day earlier “and moved his way down here.”
Officials said the bear would be released into the wild north of Barrie after biologists are satisfied he’s healthy and undamaged.
