The bear that attacked and injured two children in Luzerne County last week has been captured and euthanized, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced.

Two bears - a male and a female - were caught in live traps the game commission set following a May 22 bear attack in Wright Township, near Mountain Top, that left a 5-year-old and 14-month-old with injuries.

Previously completed DNA testing on the clothes the children were wearing at the time of the attack had developed a profile for the bear in the attack. Samples collected Friday morning from the trapped bears immediately were taken to The Dr. Jane Huffman Wildlife Genetics Institute at East Stroudsburg University. Testing performed there concluded the trapped female bear was the same one from the attack.

While bear attacks in Pennsylvania are extremely rare, when bears attack people and later are captured, they are euthanized to ensure public safety. That’s not to say a bear involved in an attack is prone to attack. Bear attacks many times are the product of a bear that is cornered and has no easy escape route. But euthanasia is a precaution against future attacks, as well as the only way to test the bear for rabies.

The male bear caught in the trap alongside the female has been relocated to a more remote area farther from the attack site.