ARLINGTON, Va. — At the dead end of a dirt trail near her house, Sonia Nayar was stopped in her tracks.
“There was a lot of smell, a strong smell and there were flies. A lot of flies," said Nayar who was on a walk with her son and dog Friday evening. "My dog just went directly to the bag."
Nayar couldn’t believe her eyes, but knew what she saw
"Honestly, I kind of thought it was a bear," said Nayar. "But then I doubted myself because, what are the chances that it could be a bear in the bag?”
The dead black bear was found next to an interstate, on a path Nayar said, isn’t frequently traveled.
"There are not a lot of people on these trails," she said. "It’s kind of hard to get to.”
Wondering what to do, Nayar posted pictures and asked for advice on Nextdoor, a community social media site.
“It’s certainly unexpected and when you see something like that unexpected, you try to be calm and call the right people to handle it," she said. "I called the police first and they came over to my house and we walked there from here, and they took it from there."
Police then alerted the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.
“Can we look for injuries? Can we look for bullets? Things like that to figure out what was going on here?” said Chelsea Jones with the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.
She said they are still investigating and don't have the answers to those questions yet.
“If it is not bear hunting season, it is a crime to kill a bear. We do want to make sure to either rule that out, or if that is the case, do more investigating into what happened," said Jones.
Nayar’s discovery and post to Nextdoor sparked nationwide interest. Mostly, people upset that a black bear could be found in these woods in that condition.
“That shows that a lot of people really care about our wildlife and want to protect animals. I feel the same way, we really love our wildlife," said Nayar. "It was unfortunate. It was sad, unfortunate news because you didn’t know how the bear ended up there."
If you have any information about this incident, you're asked to reach out to the Animal Welfare League of Arlington at (703) 931-9241.
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