Around 2:30 pm last Saturday Holden Fleming, a guest at Jellystone Park, called authorities when he noticed that the famous brown bear Yogi, was no longer breathing.

“I looked for a park employee for two hours,” stated Mr. Fleming. “It seemed like no one cared that he (Yogi) had died”

When Dr. Jonathan Walls, a local veterinarian, was finally called onto the scene it was confirmed that Yogi Bear had been dead for at least thirty two hours.

Yogi Bear had been the main attraction for the park for a decade and a half. A hundred miles in every direction it is hard not to find the iconic bears face and catchphrase on coffee cups, hats, t-shirts, and other memorabilia. At the time fo the height of Yogi’s popularity the entire country knew his name.

However due to lack of funding for the park and the current economic downturn Jellystone Park has seen a steep decline of money and resources. Last year the shareholders of the park declared it bankrupt for the first time in the parks history.

Dr. Walls has continued to help the police in this tragic matter due the influx of evidence pointing towards abuse of the famous bear. In a recent press release Dr. Walls stated that Yogi bear had originally weighed in at 1.5 tons when he first came to the park, however at the time of his death he weighed a mere eight hundred pounds.

Another possibly contributing factor to Yogi’s death was the discovery of wicker baskets found inside of his den. Most of the baskets had been partially eaten.

“If Yogi did eat those baskets in his condition they would have lacerated the inner walls of his throat and stomach,” commented Dr. Walls.

The animal rights organization PETA came forward yesterday with footage and pictures of Yogi while he was still alive. The activist group said it had been trying to get Yogi and his den mate BooBoo, a smaller, younger brown bear, relocated for the last two years. The footage shows the deathly skinny Yogi Bear swaying back and forth while staring at the brick walls of his enclosure. Other more disturbing photo’s show both bears fur caked with their own excrement.

“We stayed all day once and not a single employee ever showed up to at least check in on the bears,” said a PETA member.

However it was footage from an unknown source that has caused the authorities to investigate the park further. It is claimed that the footage shows an unidentified park employee using a cattle prod on Yogi with out provocation. The abuse lasts for nearly forty minutes until the employee leaves after the exhausted bear would no longer move.

As of this writing shareholders in Jellystone Park have refused to comment, and the police have not made any official arrests. Several employees have been taken into question including Park Ranger Smith who has been allegedly identified as the man on the footage torturing Yogi Bear.

There are plans underway to move the bear BooBoo to a new location until the investigation is over.