Black Bears

[WeatherGoddess]

From The Finger Lakes Times:

It came, it saw, it wandered ... Several bear sightings reported in and around city

By CRAIG FOX
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 11:15 AM CDT

GENEVA - Thirteen-year-old Alex Cosentino was just finishing up a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken last night when his mom yelled that there was a bear outside their house on Carter Road Extension.

Probably a cub, the roughly 3-foot-tall bear was sitting on the front porch, looking in at them around 7 p.m. Then it scampered off between their yard and a neighbor's, disappearing down a cliff and into a field, Alex said.

“It startled me. I never saw a bear before,” he said, adding that his mother, Carol, called city police.

This morning, Alex and two friends arrived at the Times' Genesee Street office before much of the staff, eager to share his pictures.

The cub - and possibly its mother - were spotted several times during the day, around St. Clair Street and along Hamilton Street.

It was also seen about 11:30 a.m. trying to get something to eat on the Hobart and William Smith Colleges campus, looking in a trash compactor near a pole barn off St. Clair.

It attracted a group of 15 people - the Colleges' public safety officers, Geneva police, wildlife experts from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Ontario County sheriff's deputies - who tried to keep track of its whereabouts, said Rob Flowers, the Colleges' interim vice president of student affairs.

“It was more of a topic of conversation, more of an interest to people than anything else,” he said.

Flowers, who saw it briefly, said it looked like the young bear weighed about 125 pounds and that it disappeared into a wooded area just east of the Colleges' practice fields.

HWS summer camp counselors were notified about the sighting and warned to keep an eye out for the curious cub, Flowers said.

In the afternoon, residents also spotted it crossing Hamilton Street and heading toward VanHouten Brothers roofing before it disappeared again.

Randy Nemecek, regional natural resource supervisor for the DEC, said that it's becoming common for bear sightings in the region, noting that in recent weeks, mostly yearlings have been seen in Canandaigua, Victor, Henrietta, and elsewhere across the area.

DEC wildlife experts said they'd heard about a cub near Geneva Country Club and heading south.

To scare the animals off, people who see a bear should make some noise by calling out or banging on pots and pans, Nemecek said, adding they are instinctively afraid of humans and normally will run off when they come in close contact with them.

He also warned that bears are really attracted to food in bird feeders, so people should remove theirs.

Tom Madalena learned that the hard way.

He saw a bigger bear - maybe 6-feet-tall on its hind legs - getting a snack around 7 p.m. from the feeder at his home on Cynthia Drive, which is west of where Cosentinos spotted the cub.

The bear ripped the feeder off the pole, dumped it over and scooped the food from the ground before heading toward North Street, he said.

“This was no cub. It was a full grown bear,” he said. “This thing was huge.”

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[WeatherGoddess]

I wouldn't mind seeing one while I'm in my car, but I don't think one in my backyard would be so fun.

[Brenda]

I just read of another sighting in Junius over the weekend, off Route 318. I guess that motorists were calling in to complain that it was causing a traffic jam.

[ShanaD]

Over the weekend we went up by the Seaway Trail to get some shots. It was about dusk, I was driving and my husband was looking out the window when he saw a dark figure in the middle of an open field. He told me that we needed to turn around because he thought it was the bear that has been seen all over the area. So I turn around and we go back, he runs to get the binoculars so he can get a better look at the dark figure in the field. When he finally gets a good view he lets out a disappointed “Oh.” Turns out his bear sighting was really just a turkey!

[Matt]

I'm sorry, but I will not pass up an opportunity to spot a rogue bear.

[cbobcat49]

I'm sorry, but I will not pass up an opportunity to spot a rogue bear.

If I thought it was a bear, I'd turn around and check too!

[Matt]

I'm pretty sure it was a bear. The turkey must have scared it away by the time we were able to turn around.

[Brenda]

I'd turn around too. After our less than successful hike, and coming up "empty handed" on two other stops in the forest yesterday (once to look for red efts and another to look for turtles), I told Mike on the drive home that after all of our lousy luck it would be nice to see a bear--but nooo