The St. Louis County Health Department confiscated the bear, and transferred it to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The university said that the bear would have to be euthanized in order to be tested.

But by Friday afternoon, the state had decided the bear was not a rabies risk. The Conservation Department had traced the bear’s origins to the point that it was confident the bear could not have gotten rabies.

University administrators were relieved. Students would not need treatments, they said.

Boo Boo’s fate, however, was still unclear. Would Boo Boo be returned to Cindy Farmer, the owner of the petting zoo? Or be transferred elsewhere?

Grisham, the St. Louis Zoo vice president, said the United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees animal exhibitors, called the zoo last week to see if it could help.

But Grisham said the timing was bad — his carnivore curator was out, and the zoo already had several new animals in quarantine, in preparation for the soon-to-open exhibit of painted dogs, sun bears and Andean bears.

But state and federal officials both called again this week, and the zoo made room.