#BearLivesMatter: Twitter Comedy Erupts Over Live Arvada Bear Capture

Twitter brings people together — and so did a certain bear whose run through Arvada yesterday briefly captivated all of Colorado.

By the time the ursine star was captured and taken away, humorous tweets about the situation, and the live coverage of it by multiple Denver TV stations, had been unleashed by members of the police, the media, just plain folks and an actual professional comedian.

The first official words about the bear came courtesy of the Arvada Police Department....

...which promptly shared a Twitpic of the fugitive snapped by Kristin Fox, who also sent the shot to 9News.

In short order, a helicopter was sent out to capture footage of the runaway bear....

...prompting John Pagel, who works for Elitch's, to take sides in the story.

7News eye-in-the-sky Jayson Luber also cracked wise about the mission....

...as did pilot Greg Sutra:

Former Westword writer turned comedian Adam Cayton-Holland definitely appreciated the hard work....

...as did a current Westword contributor, Cory Casciato:

Rather than ignoring this exchange, however, the Arvada Police Department weighed in with this....

...much to the delight of writer Luke Henderson.

In the meantime, Pagel offered a little wry media commentary:

Apparently, he was the only one.

Unfortunately, the story has an unhappy ending for the bear. According to Colorado's wildlife department, the bear's ill health means it will have to be put down.

At least the bear brought a lot of joy before exiting the scene. Here's a 7News video featuring some of that exciting bear footage.

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