Black Bear Roaming In Bensalem, Pa.; Police Warn Residents
By Kim Glovas, Steve Beck and Walt Hunter
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) --Bensalem Police are warning residents to be on alert after a black bear was spotted wandering around Friday morning.
There was another sighting of a bear Friday night. CBS 3 captured exclusive video of the animal.
Animal control officers were on its trail along Bensalem Avenue near the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but they lost it.
Friday morning, Bensalem police and animal control officials were tracking a bear in a residential area of Bensalem after a sighting earlier in the morning.
A helicopter hovered over Edge Avenue in Bensalem, where Denise Lazur spotted the bear around 8:45am.
"I was ready to go out and do my shift at the cat shelter and my husband said, 'Oh my god, there's a bear out front.' And I looked and I could not believe that we saw this bear, just wandering down the street," she told KYW Newsradio.
She ran to get her iPad to take a photo, and the bear wandered down the street.
-----
Another neighbor told her the bear started hopping fences to get into backyards. Lazur says the frightening part was it was the time of day when children were heading out to their bus stops for school.
"There's a lot of children around here, so that's scary," she said. "You just gotta watch, be careful."
Police quickly responded but the bear slipped into a heavily-wooded area along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where a State Police patrol car kept a close watch.
Lazur said that police were cordoning off the area where the bear was spotted.
"I just came home from the shift and I noticed that Bensalem Boulevard is closed off and a lot of cops, and I figures they were tracking him," she said.
Bensalem Police say they suspect the bear may have emerged from the woods seeking a breakfast snack from containers lining curbside awaiting pick-up on trash collection day.
Officers caution if you see the bear don't approach, dial "911". But, they add, since bear attacks are very rare, they did not order anyone to stay inside homes, schools or businesses.
Finally, until the bear is caught, police are asking residents to keep their outdoor grills clean and covered. Bears love grease and, they say, you don't want an unexpected visitor during your holiday weekend cookout.
The plan is to tranquilize the bear and get it relocated to a less-populated environment.
Stay with CBSPhilly.com for more details as they become available.
