State parks dept. will look into case of bear parts

We talked yesterday about the body parts that were found in northwest Harris County in the past few days — remember, homicide investigators initially thought the decomposed parts (two hands and a foot) belonged to a human, but later they discovered they were actually bear parts. So, case closed, right? Well, it still leaves the question of where the bear came from and what it was doing so close to Houston. And so far, no one really seems to have answers to those questions. "This is kind of bizarre," Peter Riger, conservation program manager at the Houston Zoo, told the Chronicle. "It would be very, very rare to have [a bear] this close to Houston."

The bear parts were found on the side of the road in the 17700 block of House Hahl, on the west side of the Blackhorse Golf Club just off the Northwest Freeway and Fry Road. Riger said black bear sightings have been on the rise in East Texas lately as single bears, mostly males, wander over from Louisiana looking for food and a less crowded environment. "People should be aware that over the next five to 10 years or so, bears may be repatriating themselves into East Texas," he told the Chronicle. Even so, we're not talking about many bears at all: According to the Chron, about 10 or 15 sightings are reported in East Texas each year, and they never come from Harris County. "The closest one was in Orange County. There are very, very few if they are there," Riger said.

Tom Harvey of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said his department's officials will look into the unfortunate bear who made it — at least in part — to Harris County. "It's just open to wild speculation where this bear came from, whether it was a pet or contraband somebody was smuggling," he said. "It may not even be a bear. It could be another large animal. Until our experts get a look at the remains we don't know anything for sure."