Test Results Released on Bear That Chased Runners in Granby

A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Wednesday that the bear that chased two runners at McLean Game Refuge in Granby Monday was not suffering from rabies, according to test results from the lab at UConn.

Dennis Schain said that full necropsy is also being performed on that bear specimen, and it will be several days before DEEP has information from that.

DEEP officials confirmed the male bear was 120 pounds and 16-17 months old. There were no tags on the bear, meaning it hadn’t been encountered by officials before.

The bear suspected of chasing two people in Granby Monday was euthanized and examined at UConn in an attempt to determine why it was unusually aggressive.

The bear’s action’s were considered ”unusually aggressive” after it chased a 62-year-old man and 25-year-old woman within an hour of each other Monday. One person sustained minor injuries from tree branches while fleeing, police said.

Black bears generally aren’t aggressive toward humans.

The bear was captured before 9 p.m. at the McLean Game Refuge Monday night. It was trapped near the site of the encounters.

Environmental Conservation Police remained on scene through the afternoon and into the night until the bear was captured.

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