Black bear found dead with large open wound in Staten Island parking lot

NEW SPRINGVILLE, Staten Island (WABC) -- Authorities are investigating a mystery after a dead bear was found in a parking lot on Staten Island Monday morning.

Police found the carcass of the 100-pound black bear outside a Dollar Tree store on Richmond Hill Road in New Springville.

"It is a mystery," witness Ali Abisse said. "I went and looked at it, it was a big black bear. big. It looked like it was run over or hit by a car."

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The bear had a large open wound on its body.

Abisse saw with his own eyes what Citizen App captured on camera. He saw it around 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

"I think it's been dead since yesterday morning," Abisse said. "I'm not an expert, but it looked like it was wounded a lot because it's arm was broken and it's leg was, it looked like it was hit by a car."

The state Department of Environmental Conservation took the bear's body to a lab for a necropsy to help determine its cause of death.

There is no known population of black bears on Staten Island.

The investigation is ongoing, and additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

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