Soon, Animal Control’s truck slid into the far end of the bay, lights steady. Parker, in a slicker, stepped out with a long pole, a noose collapsed, a tranquilizer rifle slung but unfired. She took in distances, wind, angles, and drains. “We keep it calm. Build barriers. Nobody crowd it.”
Maintenance rolled out crowd-control fencing kept for mass-casualty drills. In ten minutes, they’d built a rectangle around the ambulance approach, giving the bear space and humans a buffer. Parker set a feed pan of fish fillets from the cafeteria just inside the fence. “Back off ten meters. Let it decide.”