Bear with us
We can bearly contain ourselves over this story, but the NZP police sure could—contain a bear, that is.
A screenshot from WABC7News livestream showing the black bear in the tree in Northeast D.C. June 9, 2023. (Courtesy 7News)
On the morning of June 9, the National Zoological Park Police received an unusual call from the Metropolitan Police Department dispatch about a bear in the 5th District.
“Funny enough, when we contacted them originally, they told us they didn’t have a bear but that somebody got hit with a chair,” said Acting Lt. Derrick Lee. “We figured we had some weird miscommunication, so we called back to verify. We got the commander for the 5th District who was directly on scene, and he said no, it was in fact a bear in a tree in somebody’s backyard. But also, they did have somebody who got assaulted with a chair. It was a very weird morning.”
Ofc. Chayapol Sookchayee was conducting his normal patrol duties when he was called over the radio by another officer.
“Since I was one of the two officers qualified to use our long guns, I was asked to come down to the station and pick up Acting Lt. Lee,” said Sookchayee. “That’s when we were briefed on the situation.”
“Ofc. Sookchayee and I instantly started our code red protocols for the Zoo,” said Lt. Lee. “We contacted one of our curators Mr. Craig Saffoe. He is in charge of the carnivores at the Zoo –– the lions, tigers, and bears. Things just happened to work together that early morning, and he was already here. So, the three of us immediately went to the scene to assess things. In the meantime, we started coordinating our follow-on resources if we needed it, like additional Zoo officers, the veterinary staff, along with cages and things to help later on.”
“When we arrived, it was pretty hectic because they had closed off the entire neighborhood with crime scene tape,” said Sookchayee. “There were crowds gathering.”
Officers Sookchayee (left) and Gillis (center) on scene to assist with a loose bear in a Northeast Washington, DC, neighborhood.
“After getting on scene, we met with [the Metro Police Department],” said Lt. Lee. “We developed a unified incident command system between us, MPD, DC Fire, the Humane Rescue Alliance, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources, who ended up coming a little bit later because they were much farther out than everybody else.”
The roughly 200-pound bear had climbed a tree in someone’s backyard in northeast Washington, and the goal was to keep him up there until the Maryland Department of Natural Resources arrived with the correct dosage of tranquilizer. The Department had been tracking the bear as it traveled from Maryland in the days prior. The various agencies formulated a plan.
“We were trying to keep him in the tree using strategically placed police cars from the MPD while using lights and sirens,” said Lt. Lee. “We had a couple of alternate plans between tranquilizing the bear and/or unfortunately, possible lethal options if it were to ever come to that.”
“When we arrived, the bear was already hanging up in the tree for about three or four hours, according to what MPD had told us,” said Ofc. Sookchayee. “When it started climbing down from the tree, it was relatively surprising to all of us. None of us expected that so soon.”
The MPD turned on their lights and sirens, and the bear climbed back up the tree for a short while. But eventually, it came down, and Ofc. Sookchayee and Lt. Lee chased after the bear on foot through backyards in the residential block of Franklin Street.
Ofc. Jonathan Gillis and Officer Travis Disheroon responded to the incident with additional Zoo staff and resources. Upon their arrival, they quickly joined the efforts to intercept and capture the bear.
“We cut him off, and ultimately, Ofc. Sookchayee and I were able to corner him in the backyard of the last house on the block,” said Lee. “We couldn’t see each other, but we had communication with each other over the radio. When the bear would go around to a side I couldn’t see, I would let Sookchayee know he’s coming around and vice versa.”
“From the initial view we had of the bear, it looked quite large,” said Sookchayee. “We were a bit nervous about how it would react to large crowds, the multiple sirens, and lights. But when we actually got to the point where we were up close and personal with the bear in the backyard, we noticed it was relatively small. We still had some fears about it, but once we realized it was a juvenile bear, it kind of eased our minds. Like okay, he’s more afraid of us than we are of him.”
Ofc. Sookchayee and Lt. Lee kept the bear cornered until Animal Humane Services arrived with additional tranquilizers. Once the bear was shot with the tranquilizer, it took off running in the direction it had come from.
“The bear hit the fence full speed, landed on the other side, and he was gone,” said Lee. “Instead of trying to hop fences, which we couldn’t do, we had to run all the way around to try cut him off. It was a pretty good run. I got my exercise in for the day.”
The bear traveled about three houses down before the tranquilizer kicked in. After that, animal care staff and Zoo veterinarians stepped in and transported the bear to a cage in a truck. Bystanders rushed to see inside the truck, but MPD was able to control the crowd.
Officers move in to attempt to catch a black bear in the residential Brookland neighborhood in Northeast Washington, in Washington, Friday, June 9, 2023. The bear was eventually tranquilized by the Humane Rescue Alliance and taken away in a cage by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Screenshot of local news coverage showing backyards in the northeast Washington neighborhood where the bear was found.
“It was a perfect example of a team effort from multiple agencies all the way around,” said Lee. “MPD was very impressed with us and our support for them. Our protocols that we would normally do in the Zoo is essentially what we did outside the Zoo. I think it was a great testament to our procedures and policies to export that out of our confined space where we can close gates and use some other options. MPD was very supportive of taking insight and information from us on how we deal with that. Also, we explained the different types of equipment that we had to utilize if something were to happen. It definitely goes to show that we’re here to support the community and anybody else that really needs help.”
“It was a great experience for the Smithsonian to be able to assist an agency like MPD,” said Ofc. Sookchayee. “We all worked together, and everything turned out well. I was honored to be a part of that.”
Local news outlets reported that the bear, dubbed “Franklin” after the street where the capture took place, was transported to a forest in Maryland and released by the Humane Rescue Alliance later that day.
Officer Sookchayee assists with crowd control as the tranquilized bear is loaded on to a truck by members of the Humane Rescue Alliance. “Franklin” was transported by National Zoo staff and released safely later that day in a Maryland forest.
This article was written by Technical Writer Kelly Andrews and originally published in the July issue of the Office of Protection Services newsletter, OPS Insider.
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Posted: 13 July 2023
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