Rural Highway Shut Down for Bear Crossing in Utah

Gif: Ephraim City Police Department / Facebook

You probably know why the chicken crossed the road, but why did the bear? To get to the other side, of course. A lucky bear had a brief police escort to get across a rural highway in Utah.

Earlier this week, someone contacted local law enforcement after seeing a black bear in a cemetery near Ephraim, Utah, 115 miles south of Salt Lake City. They were concerned that the bear was heading toward nearby U.S. Route 89. The Ephraim City Police Department sent officers to close the two-lane road and allow the bear to cross safely. The department uploaded a video of the interaction on its Facebook page.

The video begins with the black bear emerging from the roadside. Then, it carefully makes its way across the pavement, looking both ways until crossing the double-yellow line and sprinting to the other side. After the footage ended, the bear climbed over a small barrier fence and was tailed by an officer from Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources until it reached relative safety in the mountains.

In a 2018 issue of the scientific journal Behavioral Ecology, a published study found that American black bears can comprehend the risks of crossing roads. Bears monitored in Minnesota had elevated heart rates when crossing roadways and shaped their movements based on traffic. They sensibly traversed busier roads at night while walking across calmer roads during the day.

As an Eagle Scout, this would be where I would advise you on the dangers of interacting with black bears. For example, black bears can run up to speeds of 35 mph, so you should never try to run away from one on foot. Though, if you are behind the wheel of a car, you are the danger. Traffic collisions are one of the leading causes of black bear deaths in the United States.