(DNR photo of what’s believed to be a foot print from a black bear hit on I64 near New Albany this past Sunday night)
(AP) — The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has confirmed a motor vehicle struck a black bear on a southern Indiana highway.
The agency said wildlife biologists confirmed the animal was a bear Monday afternoon, based on information gathered by conservation officers.
It says the bear was struck on Interstate 64 near mile marker 121 in the New Albany area at 8 p.m. Sunday. The injured bear wandered into heavy brush after the collision.
New Albany police say the driver wasn’t injured.
Black bears are rare in Indiana . The DNR says that before 2015, when a black bear entered the state from Michigan, the last confirmed report of a black bear in Indiana was in the 1870s. In 2016, a black bear was confirmed in southern Indiana’s Harrison, Washington and Clark counties.