A Louisiana black bear, an endangered animal, was found dead on the shoulder of Interstate 20 near Tallulah about a week ago, officials said this morning.

Mike Hook, who is the large-carnivore biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said his department picked up the body of the 13- or 14-year-old bear after a report to the Madison Parish Sheriff’s Department.

“It was a marked bear that had been caught about 14 years ago,” he said. “It was partially decomposed, but the person who picked it up said he was guessing it weighed up to 500 pounds.”

Hook said this bear probably had roamed from the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge near Tallulah or it might have been heading that way since there is a large bear habitat in the area.

This kind of road kill is common for this time of year based on two events, Hook said.

“Mothers that have yearling bears are weaning their bears and sending them on their own,” he said. “Females tend to stay close to their mothers. The young males go everywhere. They are the equivalent of a 13-year-old boy. They wander off.

“The second,” Hook said, “is that it’s breeding season. The big males are doing the same thing, but they have a purpose in life — they’re breeding. Most of these road kills are males, usually adult males.”

Last year, Hook estimated nearly 30 black bears were killed by vehicles. So far, he is aware of three, including the carcass near Tallulah and two in south Louisiana.

“You never know where a bear will get hit,” he said. “More often than not, there are no accident reports.”

The bears’ skulls are preserved for study, Hook said.

Black bears, omnivorous animals, are listed as endangered in Louisiana and Mississippi, and it is illegal to harm to them.

In Warren County, a Louisiana black bear was spotted on Davis Island in the Mississippi River earlier this spring. Brad Young, Black Bear Program leader for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, has said the black bear population is rising.

About 120 live in the state, up from about 50 in 2002.