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Bear spotted in Chapel Hill

Posted on May 26, 2011May 26, 2011 by Staff

PHOTO COURTESY OF THOMAS BYTHELL. A black bear causes a stir in the Friday Center parking lot in Chapel Hill on Monday.

By Joshua Lucas
Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL — A small black bear caused a stir Monday morning as he ambled through parts of southeast Chapel Hill, including UNC’s Finley Golf Course and the N.C. Botanical Garden.

The young black bear – a witness estimated its weight at no more than 250 lbs and its height no taller than 4 feet – was spotted shortly after 10 a.m. by some UNC workers in the Chapel Hill Transit park-and-ride lot at the Friday Center off N.C. 54.

“The bear just literally ran right in front of us,” said Thomas Bythell, a UNC forester and ground services supervisor. Bythell and colleague Chris Koltz got some blurry, Bigfoot-style photos of the animal as it darted from the parking lot toward Finley.

The wayward ursine was seen at about the same time by golfers on the links at Finley – “the third hole, from what we were told,” said Chapel Hill Police Lt. Kevin Gunter. From there it padded up to a wooded area behind Glenwood Elementary School, along Highland Woods Road.

A resident of that neighborhood reported the animal to Chapel Hill police, Gunter said, but took pains to note that it was not acting violent and seemed calm.

Visitors and workers at the N.C. Botanical Garden on Old Mason Farm Road got a visit from the lumbering stranger after 11 a.m., they said. He just seemed to be exploring.

“He saw a lot of greenery, I guess,” garden employee Shanna Oberreiter said.

The animal was last seen Monday moving southward through the Kings Mill Road area.

One potential home for the bear nearby would be UNC’s reserve land south and east of where it had been seen.

“I wouldn’t mind if he found his way into the biological reserve,” Bythell said. “He’s got lots of land to live on and things to eat.”

Chapel Hill officials contacted the N.C. Wildlife Commission, but said there’s really nothing to be done – or worry about – if the bear isn’t threatening people or damaging property.

“This is a wild animal,” Gunter said. “If it’s just kind of meandering through, it’s eventually going to make its way back to where it’s supposed to be.”

But why did the bear show up near people to begin with? One biologist said it may just be part of the natural population cycle of the bears, not an indication of any change or encroachment on the part of humans.

When young male bears become adults, they typically seek new areas away from where they grew up to call home. That searching can involve some amount of exploration, said Beth Gardner, a quantitative wildlife population biologist at N.C. State University.

“Young males are known to sort of disperse, as we call it,” she said. “They hang out with their mothers for a while and then get pushed out.

The black bear – the only kind of bear native to North Carolina – is more common on the coast and in the mountains, but is not unheard of in the Piedmont, as Monday’s sighting and a weekend bear-spotting in Garner attest. A black bear has also been sited recently in Greensboro.

If you see the bear, don’t panic, Gardner said.

“If you see a bear, it’s good to keep your distance, make yourself known. They’re basically not going to be aggressive unless they get spooked or scared.

“Otherwise, stay where you are, back up slowly, and keep your distance,” she said.

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