A bear was struck and killed by a a tour bus on Sept. 20.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said its paws were removed after its death.

Possessing such animal parts without a permit violates the state's environmental conservation law.

Susan Garcia was taking her partner, Eileen Novick, to the doctor's office around 9:30 a.m. Sep. 22 when they first saw the bear lying on the side of state Route 32 in Highland Mills .

An hour later, when the two Highland Mills residents were returning home, the bear was still there. They stopped to take a picture, but what they saw shocked them so much they forgot about the photo.

The bear was dead, and its two front paws, Novick said in a Sept. 29 video call, "were just cut straight off."

"Right through the bone," Garcia sa

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