Search Continuing for Escaped Cycling Circus Bear

Date: October 22, 2007

The search continues today for a black bear that escaped from a local circus company that was performing near Ellery Lake, just east of Yosemite National Park. Clint, the black bear best known for his bicycling and juggling act in Circus Ursus, was last seen by rangers at the Tioga Pass Entrance, riding westbound on the Tioga Road at a high rate of speed on October 19, 2007.

Clint is described as being 5' 6" long and 32" tall with black fur and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black stetson, carrying a large sack, and riding a black Mongoose mountain bike. He is an experienced cyclist and juggler (especially with cleavers and assorted tools), but his ability to survive in the wild is unknown.

Search managers are asking that anyone who has been in the Tuolumne Meadows area that has seen a bear matching this description please contact them.

They are also advising any visitors with bicycles to hang them at least ten feet off the ground from a sturdy tree branch, using a metal chain (if possible). While this technique may not work if Clint is carrying the chain cutter he was seen juggling during his last performance, it is the only workable solution search managers have so far to prevent bicycle theft.

(Inspired by The Onion, the Yosemite National Park news releases, and a bicycle I saw heavily chained to a giant tree.)