9/8/08 Game and Fish Department officials aided by a PNM crew captured a bear on Monday morning that had been spotted several times in Albuquerque’s North Valley.

The bear was initially sighted on Monday near Taylor middle School in the area of Paseo del Norte and Rio Grande.

Game and Fish with Bernalillo County deputies managed to track the bear, which had climbed some 50 feet into a cottonwood tree.

A Game and Fish officer shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart. Although the bear attempted to cling to the tree, it eventually fell the 50 feet landing on an air mattress.

“Appears to be in good health,” said Chris Chadwick of Game and Fish. “It’s real fat and, around here, in the North Valley, it’s had lots to eat, I would say.”

Officials say that it’s rare to find a bear in the North Valley.

The black bear will be tagged and released into the wild. Game and Fish officials aren’t saying where the bear is being released because it’s currently bear hunting season.