The Bear Necessities

Livingston’s little bear was seen three times on Friday morning, roaming close enough to the Mt. Pleasant School complex to force recess inside as a precaution, police said.

Police believe this is the same bear chased back into woods after it was spotted at Berliss Bearings on Route 10 on Thursday.

On Friday morning, the bear was sighted on the other side of the highway, this time behind homes on Hazel Avenue and near Broadlawn Drive, and by Firestone Tire and Ritz Diner on Mount Pleasant Avenue, said Det. Sgt. Ron Barbella.

It was close enough to Mt. Pleasant, Collins and Harrison schools to bring children inside for physical education and recess, according to an email sent to families by Livingston Public Schools.

“As a precautionary measure, police contacted the affected schools and asked that students remain indoors for both physical education classes and recess today,” said the email sent by Allison Freeman, Interim Manager, Communications and Community Outreach.

The bear was last seen heading towards St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, Freeman said.

Black bears have called the woods in and around Livingston home before. Just this past January, two first graders thought they saw one by Burnet Hill School and residents reported seeing a bear by the brook that runs near the school. Police never found tracks and assumed that those sightings may really have been a large black dog that lives in the area.

A month earlier there was evidence of a bear in the backyard of a home on Chestnut and Northfield Avenue, where bird feeders had been ripped off trees.

The bears have roamed here from the animal's usual habitat -- the northwest portion of the state – mostly because that regionl has become too densely populated with other bears competing for food, according to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. They're usually seen poking through trash or bird feeders looking for something to eat.

Police believe there’s just one bear, the same young black bear spotted on Thursday morning in the parking lot of before being chased back into the woods.

“It was a first for us and we’ve been here since 1951,” said a Berliss worker who asked that his name not be published. “I tried to stare him down like Davey Crockett but it didn’t work. So I got in my car and drove off.”

If residents do it will most likely turn tail and run off, according to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. If it doesn’t, you should stop, stand still and stay calm. “Avoid approaching it at all costs,” said Barbella of Livingston’s police department. “Go inside and give us a call (992-3000).”

Other bear safety tips include:

• Never feed or approach a bear.
• Remain calm.
• Make the bear aware of your presence by speaking in an assertive voice, singing, clapping your hands, or making other noises.
• Avoid direct eye contact and never run from a bear. Instead, slowly back away.
• To scare the bear away, make loud noises. Make yourself look as big as possible by waving your arms. If you are with someone else, stand close together with your arms raised above your head.

You can find more bear safety tips here. 

And if you’re really interested in learning more about our black bear, the Turtle Back Zoo just happens to be celebrating Bear Awareness Day with Jelly and Jam, the zoo’s two American Black Bears, on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. You can learn all about bears from around the world and see Jelly and Jam, twin sisters who arrived as orphaned cubs.