Bear was initially found hibernating along I-75
BAY COUNTY -- The man whose car struck a 180-pound black bear in Bay County's Garfield Township last week says he plans to make a rug out of the animal's hide.
Billy Elwood was driving home after his night shift at a manufacturing plant Tuesday morning when he encountered the bear.
Elwood says he applied the brakes but it was too late.
Elwood says he called the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which allowed him to keep the carcass after a trooper euthanized the animal.
Elwood donated the meat but wildlife officials recalled it out of concern it had been tranquilized and unfit for consumption.
Wildlife officials relocated the bear from a culvert near I-75 a week before it was killed. It apparently had been hibernating.
