Authorities are searching for a Formosan black bear that they believe was hit by a train late on Sunday night as it crossed a bridge in Taitung County, warning area residents to be on the alert.
“The conductor of a northbound train informed us at about 10pm on Sunday that he had seen a Formosan black bear with a V-shape mark on its chest while passing Haiduan Bridge,” Fan Chih-kuen (范織坤), head of the county’s Guanshan police branch office, said on Monday.
The precinct sent officers and firefighters to comb the area in question, Fan said, adding that footprints and vomit they suspected were left by a Formosan black bear were spotted in the area.
Fan said the conductor of a southbound Tzu-Chiang express train from Taipei informed the northbound train conductor that his train seemed to have hit an unidentified animal while crossing Haiduan Bridge, located between Haiduan (海端) and Chihshang (池上) townships.
“The Tzu-Chiang train conductor asked me to check whether there was something on the bridge when my train passed it ... Therefore, I was paying extra attention ... and sighted the bear,” the northbound train conductor was quoted as telling Fan’s office.
The conductor also said that the black bear seemed to have sustained leg injuries and was limping northward along the bridge.
Fan said his office had received calls from four area residents between 5pm and 8pm on Sunday prior to the accident saying they had spotted a black bear at the 205km marker on the Southern Cross-Island Highway near the county’s Chulai Township (初來).
“The head of the Chulai police precinct then rushed to the area and saw the ‘bear’s eyes in the dark,’” Fan said.
Fan said his office had decided to inform Haiduan and Chihshang residents to be on the alert.
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