Bear Lounges In Virginia Backyard (Video)

MANASSAS, VA -- A bear has been captured on video lounging about in a backyard in Manassas, Va., as fascinated homeowners watch from inside. And it's not the first sighting in Northern Virginia this week.

Fox 5 reports that Manassas residents captured the video through a window, and the bear can be seen sitting next to a tree near the house. A few days before, a bear was spotted near a house in Triangle near Quantico.

Bear sightings are certainly not unheard of in Northern Virginia. Bears have been spotted in at least 92 of Virginia's 98 counties, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

ANOTHER NOVA BEAR SIGHTING: A bear sighting in Manassas Thursday morning that was captured on video has become the latest in a string of bears seen in northern Virginia over the last week. STORY: https://t.co/uXIB94V6fc pic.twitter.com/zkn0ZoY6JE
— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) June 28, 2018

"Black bears and human populations commonly coexist in many parts of North America," according to the department's website. "Black bears occur throughout most of the Commonwealth, and residential areas of Virginia are encroaching into forested lands and habitats commonly used by wildlife as human populations are also growing and spreading across most areas of Virginia."

Most of Virginia's bears can be found in the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains and around the Great Dismal Swamp, but they can be found just about anywhere in the state.

Normally this is not a problem, but when human foods become available to bears, there can be some dangerous confrontations. VDGIF provides the following tips to prevent problems with bears:

The most common food attractants are bird feeders, garbage, and pet food, but grills, livestock feeds, compost, and beehives can also attract bears.

Residential bear problems may occur at any time of year, but are more common when natural food supplies are limited, usually in the spring or in years when natural nut and berry production is low.

Most common bear problems have simple solutions. Typical problems involve turned-over garbage containers, trash littered across the yard, damaged birdfeeders, or bears coming onto porches to eat pet food or get into coolers. However, bears that learn to associate food with people can cause property damage in their search for food around houses.

(Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)