Multiple bear sightings in Sandy Springs are believed to be a single animal

Sandy Springs has a bear who really gets around.

Multiple sightings in the area are believed to be the same 120-pound animal, a Georgia Department of Natural Resources official said.

Residents captured photos and video of a bear in two Sandy Springs communities on Monday.

Posts on the Nextdoor social media site show the bear standing upright in a backyard — near Heards Ferry Road according to the post — and pulling down a birdfeeder. On the ground in the animal’s clutches, the birdfeeder became the bear’s food.

In another post, Bruce Kramer said he saw a black bear crossing Brandon Mill Road Monday evening.

“I was in my car,” Kramer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was coming out of one person’s yard crossing to the east side and ran along the road and jumped over the fence.”

Kramer said the bear was about the size of a large German shepherd.

Since June 21 the Sandy Springs Police Department has fielded numerous calls from residents saying they saw a bear in their neighborhood or yard, Public Information Officer Sgt. Sal Ortega said via email.

So far, the bear has not approached anyone and has not exhibited threatening behavior, Ortega said.

Kaitlin Goode, manager for DNR’s Urban Wildlife Program, told the AJC on Tuesday that the Sandy Springs bear is one of two bears known to be roaming metro Atlanta. The other is currently believed to be in Gwinnett County, she said.

A commenter on Kramer’s Nextdoor post included a photo of a bear in front of a dumpster Sunday on Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, the person said.

Both bears are young males seeking to claim their own territory, Goode said.

“What we’re seeing is normal,” she added.

Last week, Goode told the AJC that young male bears tend to wander into unusual places during early summer as it coincides with breeding season. The young male bears are kicked out by their moms and must look for a new home, she said. Adult male bears might attack young males if they don’t give them space and leave, she said.