Oakmont residents startled following early morning bear sighting
OAKMONT, Pa. (KDKA) - Families in an Oakmont neighborhood woke up Wednesday morning to find a bear roaming the streets, leaving many surprised as they started their day.
Cinzia Gagetta had just dropped her daughter off at high school and was watering her flowers.
"It was just, you know, surreal," Gagetta said.
Then, her neighbor stepped out and started talking.
"Said, 'Hey, did you see it?' And I said, 'See what?' and she said, 'There's a black bear.'"
It disappeared...until it didn't.
"I was like, 'Oh,'" Gagetta said.
It was around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and the black furry animal stopped in the middle of 8th Street by Delaware.
"I don't know if he was more afraid of us, you know, and that he was lost or hungry. I don't know, but he just like took off," Gagetta said.
She called the police and word quickly got around.
In the 10 years Jason Yahnke lived in Oakmont he had heard of sightings, though never came across one himself, until now. At first, he didn't believe it.
"He looked scared. He was running pretty fast," Yahnke said. "I thought that was an awful dark deer."
Borough Manager Scot Fodi said that based on video surveillance the bear appeared non-aggressive and according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, it wasn't an immediate threat and was likely looking for food.
Because of this, they urge folks to keep their garbage properly stored, secured, and covered, and to consider emptying bird feeders for the time being.
"We're just grateful for such a wonderful community here in Oakmont, that everyone's really close-knit and that everyone does spread the word quickly," Gagetta said.