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KENNESAW - A black bear was killed in Cobb traffic early Tuesday, the second in a week.

Sgt. Dana Pierce of Cobb Police said police got a call about a dead bear on Barrett Parkway near Interstate 75 about 6:45 a.m. The driver apparently did not stop, or call police, he said. Under a county ordinance, motorists must make a police report only if a domesticated animal is hit, he said.

There were no reports of human injuries.

A state Department of Transportation crew removed the bear, he said, and transported it to the Cobb Animal Shelter where a Department of Natural Resources employee tagged and removed it.

But the bear's body may help others learn about the creatures. The county's parks and recreation department plans to stuff the body and include it in an environmental-education display, said Robert Quigley, the county's spokesman.

Early Friday, another black bear was struck and killed about 10 miles south at the Interstate 75/Interstate 285 interchange.

Rick Lavender, of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said it is not unusual for bears to appear in the county during the spring. Young male bears are pushed out of their shelters by their mother and forced to find new homes, he said. Georgia has about 2,500 bears, he said.

"You have young males that disperse from their mothers, and they're looking for their own territory. They may find somewhere with another bear and they get kicked out, and they travel down river corridors that are wooded and provide food and water," he said. "But then they end up in urban areas, and that's where they get into trouble."

Pierce suggested drivers call police if they see a bear roaming nearby.

And if you feel like you may hit one, "try to take some evasive action without putting yourself, the public or the animal at risk," he said. Michael Falck, a defensive driving instructor, said animals are more likely to be wandering at nighttime, and suggested driving more slowly in non-daylight hours.

"Animals have the right of way under Georgia law," he said.

Bears can cause significant damage to cars, said Eddy Frost of ABRA Auto Body & Glass in Marietta.

"It could total a car," Frost said. "It would be pretty impossible for a bear not to do some damage."

tmollett@mdjonline.com

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