Bear Sighting Reported in Woodstock

Sign up for the Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch newsletter!

----

Just weeks after reports of bears popped up around north metro Atlanta, another creature has been seen in southeast Cherokee County.

That’s according to the Woodstock Police Department’s Facebook page, which reported on Sunday that a bear was “observed walking in the area of Persimmon Trail and Ragsdale Road from the (Army) Corps of Engineers’ land.”

As of Monday afternoon, Woodstock police spokesperson Sgt. Randy Milligan said yesterday’s report is the only one the agency has received so far about the bear’s presence.

Sunday’s occurrence is the latest report of bears residents have seen across northern metro Atlanta. Earlier this month, a Johns Creek police officer’s dash cam video captured a small bear running across Jones Bridge Road.

Within a matter of days, two reports of bears in the Norcross area were made by residents. A day after the second bear sighting, a black bear was found dead alongside Interstate 85 near Steve Reynolds Boulevard.

Another black bear made a brief appearance in the Estates at Hickory Mill neighborhood in Milton and another was seen around Dunwoody Club Drive and Mill Shire Lane in Dunwoody.

In late April, a driver struck and killed a black bear on S.R. 92 near Settlement Drive in southwest Cherokee County.

• See also: Milton Police Warn of Coyotes

In its alert to residents, the Milton Police Department posted the following tips on its Facebook page for residents to follow if they come across the black bear.

• Call 911 immediately;
• Do not try to approach or feed the bears;
• Keep children and pets from approaching;
• Do not surround or corner a bear; give them plenty of space; and
• Do not try to run from a bear – back slowly away and make lots of noise.

You can read more about black bears in Georgia by visiting the state Department of Natural Resource’s fact sheet.

----

Photo credit: Donna Hill Thorman