Wayward Black Bear Wanders Into The City, Spotted By Pittsburgh Police In Several Neighborhoods
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Police and Public Safety officials are on high alert after several sightings of a black bear wandering around homes right here in the city.
Pittsburgh Police Zone 3 officers say they spotted the bear in both Overbrook and Mt. Washington in the very early hours of Wednesday morning.
In Overbrook, police saw the bear on Groveland Street. A second sighting was made on Wyoming Street near Shiloh Street, then the bear was spotted again on Sweetbriar and Lupton Streets on Mt. Washington, near Duquesne Heights.
Ring.com video from the South Side Slopes also shows the bear strolling down St. Joseph Way around 3 a.m.
Cookie Debruin, who lives on St. Joseph Way, said the bear caused no harm, only dragging away her trash before disappearing into the night.
"I knew I should never take the garbage out at night," she said.
(Video Courtesy: Karen Howells/Ring.com)
Then, around 5 a.m., KDKA viewer Dennis Boehm captured video on his cellphone of the giant bear wandering down the middle of Sweetbriar and Shaler Streets in Duquesne Heights.
(Video Courtesy: Dennis Boehm)
Zone 3 police officers have called the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Animal Care and Control.
Police are warning residents of those areas that if they see the bear -- leave it alone and contact 911 immediately about its location. The Pennsylvania Game Commission said the bear was probably a cub off pursuing a life of its own.
"These cubs are going around looking for something to eat," said Zeb Campbell, game warden for Allegheny County.
People are also being warned not to feed the bear under any circumstance.