‘A bear in the neighborhood?’ Residents get a close encounter

An email went out to residents in a Cherokee County subdivision that a bear had been sighted. Get small pets inside, it said.

Resident Sharis Meyer was skeptical.

“I couldn't believe it. I first thought someone was kidding me,” she told Channel 2 Action News. “A bear in the neighborhood? You got to be kidding me.”

But it’s true — the bear was caught on cellphone video roaming around the Woodstock neighborhood. It’s not unusual for the animals to ramble out of their normal habitats in the fall.

So when Meyer went out running with her dog, she was hoping they wouldn’t have a surprise run-in with the bear.

“There’s a section of the woods in between the bottom half and top half of the neighborhood, so I assume he must’ve come out of that section,” she said. “Sometimes we see deer coming out of there so it's possible the bear came out of there, too.”

Residents contacted wildlife officials, but they usually don’t trap a bear unless it’s a danger to residents or pets.

Bears normally are not aggressive unless they are protecting their cubs, according to Channel 2. Still, it’s best to remove outside food sources, such as bird feeders, that could attract the animals.

Another resident, Rick Johnson, hopes the bear, which could weigh several hundred pounds, is gone soon.

“Hopefully,” he said, “he’s headed back up north.”

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