A bear carcass has been found in Barrie near Anne Street and John Street, just feet off the road.

Police were called to the scene this morning, and say it looks like the young bear wasn’t tagged, and may have been poached illegally.

Neil Carr was walking near Anne Street in Barrie when he saw something strange in the bushes.

He says he “saw a bag” and “something appeared to be inside of it”.

When he got closer, Carr was shocked at what he found: the carcass of a young black bear.

“It's sad that this happens in our city or anywhere else for that matter,” he says.

Barrie police were called in to deal with the animal. And Const. Jamie Saunders says he was disturbed by what he saw: a bear that had been killed and gutted.

“There’s no evidence that a tag was ever attached to this particular carcass, which would indicate to me that it may have been taken illegally,” he says.

In Ontario as soon as a bear is killed it must be tagged.

Bears can be hunted during the fall and the spring bear hunt – set to start May 1 – has just been reintroduced for some areas in Northern Ontario. Saunders says there's really no way to know when this bear was killed, however.

“There are signs that the bear was recently thawed or thawing, so it could have been caught last fall or poached illegally at any time. There's really no way to know,” he says, adding the whole situation seems strange: a bear carcass tossed into some trees in the middle of an industrial part of town.

“I don't understand why anyone would do something like this unless they were trying to hide something,” he says.

John Herd is a private instructor who teaches hunting safety and says there are far easier ways to dispose of a bear than dumping it in the woods.

“If you do have something like this in your freezer you can dispose of it in your green bin,” he says. “It's all natural. But the best thing really to do is talk to the MNR. They may want to know about it for their records.”

Barrie police say the remains have been handed over to the Ministry of Natural Resources. They will take a look at the carcass, and could help police decide whether to proceed with an investigation into whether the animal was killed illegally.