SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A big black bear was back in the wild, Tuesday evening, after causing quite a commotion at the Seminole Towne Center Mall. The 250-pound bear made its way into a tree right along I-4 and State Road 46, Tuesday afternoon.

---

SLIDESHOW: Bear Wanders Near Mall, Tranquilized

---

State wildlife officers shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart, but not because he was a threat to the mall customers, but because Interstate 4 is just a few steps away.

A skinny pine tree on the edge of the Seminole Towne Center Mall parking lot was home for a few hours for the full-grown black bear.

"You don't see a bear in the mall parking lot. That's not an everyday thing," said eyewitness Matt Shinner.

GET WFTV NEWS HEADLINES BY EMAIL 9 a.m. Headlines Noon Headlines 4 p.m. Headlines News of the Strange Breaking News Alerts

Experts said it's not at all unusual for a bear to cross Interstate 4 and end up at a shopping center.

"Male black bears have about 60 square miles home ranges. So, I-4 is nothing," said wildlife biologist Mike Orlando.

Because there was a chance he'd go back across the highway, wildlife officers shot him with a tranquilizer and brought him to the Rock Springs Run State Reserve in Lake County. They think he had been hit by a car. He has a broken wrist, maybe a fractured leg, but Orlando said it's not serious.

"I've seen bears get hit by semis and breathe the next year. They're resilient animals. They're tough. They're bears," he said.

And bears will wander where they want to wander, even to the mall.

"We're in one of the highest populations of black bears in the state. This is where bears live," Orlando said. "I-4 and the mall, that's all inside his territory."

Despite the injuries, officers said the bear will heal quickly.