Authorities Continue Monitoring Bear On Loose In Manahawkin

MANAHAWKIN, NJ — Beth Phillips, a shift manager at McDonald's, walked to the drive-thru area Thursday morning to get a drink. She saw a black object running toward the restaurant in the side parking lot.

It was a bear in a Manahawkin parking lot. Fellow shift manager Izen Small filmed the creature, who became a local viral sensation.

Stafford police and animal control continue to monitor the black bear after a second sighting in the Cedar Run section of town, the police department said at around 1:20 p.m.

The bear arrived at around 10:15 a.m. Phillips called police to make sure nobody would harm the bear.

"He started to just run around," Phillips told Patch. "He wasn’t really doing much at that point. I guess we kind of spooked him at that point. We thought, ‘Was that actually a bear that we were looking at?’"

The bear ran toward Route 72, and some cars pulled over, which scared the animal again, Phillips said. Then he started running around the shopping center to the old Kmart before hitting up GameStop.

Phillips thought the bear mostly seemed scared and confused.

"But he did seem a little playful because there’s a pillar outside of the Gamestop that he was in front of," she said. "He bear-hugged it and started to try to climb up it."

The Stafford Strong Facebook page published a post at about 11 a.m. Thursday, saying the bear was near the McDonald's by Kmart.

Watch below:

Stafford police, Stafford animal control and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife responded to the scene near Regal Cinema. They found the bear resting in a tree between the movie theater and McDonald's.

After some time, the bear climbed down and appeared to head west toward the woods in the direction of the Stafford Forge Wildlife Preserve. But shortly after, police were alerted again that someone saw the bear in the Cedar Run section of town.

If you see the bear, stay away and report the sighting to Stafford police at 609-597-8581.

This is a developing story. Patch will update with any more information.

Click here to get Patch email notifications on this or other local news articles or get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our app. Download here. Follow Barnegat-Manahawkin Patch on Facebook. Have a news tip? Email josh.bakan@patch.com.