Dead bear was ‘illegally dumped’ by VDOT contractors, officials say

It turns out that Nayar had come across a dead 100-pound black bear that would become the talk of the town around 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Nayar, who was traveling with her 12-year-old son, took a few photos and posted them on NextDoor, receiving 150 responses and over 40 comments. The Arlington artist called the police, and soon the Animal Welfare League of Arlington and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources launched an investigation.

Arlington police were dispatched to the 2100 block of 21st Road North at 5:23 p.m. Friday, police spokeswoman Ashley Savage said. On Monday afternoon, Webber, a construction company with which the Virginia Department of Transportation has a five-year, $23.5 million contract, claimed responsibility.

“An error was made,” a spokesman for Webber said in a statement to the Washington Post.

Webber’s contract workers were called on May 29 to pick up a bear that was struck and killed by a car on I-66 in Prince William County, said Chelsea Jones, a spokeswoman for the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. The contract workers then brought the bear to Arlington, where they “illegally disposed of it via an overpass onto the Custis Memorial Trail,” Jones said.

That’s where Nayar and his colleagues found it. “Significant decomposition was already underway,” said Jones.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington is working with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources “to determine whether charges will be filed for this egregious behavior,” Jones said.

Webber’s spokesman did not respond to questions about the number of workers affected or any disciplinary action, but said the company will work with VDOT to ensure its employees “receive the retraining they may need.”

After the incident, several NextDoor users expressed their horror that someone would dispose of an animal in this way. They shared updates from the Animal Welfare League of Arlington on the platform. And they were skeptical about the officials’ statements about what happened.

“This doesn’t make sense,” wrote one user.

If workers had followed regulations, they would have taken the dead bear to a special landfill in Prince William County where dead animals are disposed of, said Ellen Kamilakis, a spokeswoman for VDOT. It’s unclear why workers chose that route in Arlington instead.

“Throwing a bear off the embankment of an overpass is obviously not normal practice,” Kamilakis said.

This was the first dead bear Jones had seen in her eight years at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. Nayar also found Friday’s discovery strange and called authorities before she even got home.

It was such an unusual situation that when police arrived, Nayar recalled telling them, “I hope I didn’t bring you here to get a bag of mulch.”

Now that she has learned more about the situation, Nayar hopes it will inspire people to learn more about the wildlife in the area.

“We have to be grateful for the biodiversity we have here and we have to respect and protect our animals. I was impressed by the amount of people who showed their compassion,” Nayar said. “After this happened, maybe we shouldn’t allow something like this to happen again.”