A black bear was seen in east Oak Ridge early Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The Oak Ridge Police Department received a call about the bear at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday. The bear had been seen in a resident’s yard through a Ring doorbell.
The bear was not aggressive, the ORPD said. Officers were unable to locate the bear.
Here’s what the ORPD said you should do if you encounter a bear in your neighborhood:
[Read more…]
An archived file photo of a black bear at Anderson County High School on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2016. (Archived file photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Information from WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Today
A black bear was spotted wandering through Clinton on Friday.
The city sent out a Code Red Alert to part of the city on Friday morning indicating that the bear had been spotted in the vicinity of JD Yarnell Industrial Parkway and the 1200 block of Seivers Boulevard, heading in the general direction of the Clinton Home Center.
Authorities say that if you see the bear, you should give it a wide berth and notify the Clinton Police Department at (865) 457-3112.
It’s not unusual to occasionally see black bears in East Tennessee in the summer, including in Oak Ridge, Anderson County, Clinton, and the Great Smoky Mountains. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has previously said that Oak Ridge and Knoxville are surrounded by very good bear habitats—including the largest black bear preserve in the world—and it’s not unusual to see up to a half-dozen bears come through the Oak Ridge area each year and at least that many in the Knoxville area. [Read more…]
A black bear is pictured above in this file photo from Oak Ridge Today from October 2015.
Information from WYSH Radio
A black bear was spotted in Clinton on Wednesday afternoon.
Police were called at around 4:10 p.m. Wednesday after a person reported seeing a black bear behind a building at 711 South Charles Seivers Boulevard. The bear was reportedly going down into a creek bed when it was seen. The caller told dispatchers that he got into his car and followed the animal until he lost sight of it when it disappeared into the woods near Susanne Drive. There was no contact between the bear and people before it trundled off into the woods.
Bears travel a lot this time of the year searching for food and new territory. [Read more…]
No one was injured, and a black bear was chased away with rubber bullets and beanbag rounds after it spent three hours at Anderson County High School, mostly eating acorns, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 8:40 a.m.
CLINTON—No one was injured, and a black bear was chased away with rubber bullets and beanbag rounds after it spent three hours at Anderson County High School, mostly eating acorns, on Tuesday.
The bear was first seen at about 3:55 p.m. Tuesday on the east side of a parking lot on the east side of the high school campus.
ACHS Assistant Principal Ben Downs, Principal Andrea Russell, and a school resource officer were involved in a student issue in the parking lot, when Downs looked over his left shoulder and saw the bear.
“There it was coming out of the woods,” Downs said. [Read more…]
A black bear investigates a backyard grill in north Oak Ridge in May 2012. To encourage bears to move on, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency recommends trying to eliminate outdoor food sources such as dog and cat food, bird seed, and grease traps. (Photo by George Ostrouchov)
Oak Ridge and Knoxville are surrounded by very good bear habitats—including the largest black bear preserve in the world—and it’s not unusual to see up to a half-dozen bears come through the Oak Ridge area each year and at least that many in the Knoxville area, Tennessee wildlife officials said this week.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Sgt. Roy Smith of Morristown said the bear seen in Oak Ridge on Monday was not the first in the area this summer, and there have also been a few in Anderson County.
“It’s not an isolated incident,†Smith said. “We have bears moving through Oak Ridge from time to time.†[Read more…]
A black bear at a bird feeder on Lullaby Lane in Solway on Sunday night. (Photos courtesy Kayla Boone)
In addition to the black bear in Oak Ridge on Monday, there was also a bear in Solway on Sunday night. It’s not clear if it was the same bear.
The bear in Solway on Sunday was seen on Lullaby Lane, including at a bird feeder at about 7 p.m.
There were many sightings of a bear in the Woodland neighborhood on Monday. It was at The Manhattan Apartments on Rutgers Avenue at about 10:30 a.m. Monday. [Read more…]
Wildlife officers and residents gather around a black bear caught on East Drive around 8 p.m. Saturday. (Photo submitted by Kelli Parsons)
An east Oak Ridge resident reported that a black bear was caught at about 8 p.m. Saturday.
The bear was caught at about the 390 block of East Drive, said resident Kelli Parsons, who submitted a photo taken by a neighbor.
A black bear climbs onto a backyard grill in north Oak Ridge on Tuesday after looking into a living room window. (Photo by George Ostrouchov)
Residents continued to report that a bear or bears was in the Secret City this week, and one was trapped at Oak Ridge National Laboratory early Friday morning.
George Ostrouchov took pictures of a black bear in his back yard on Orchard Circle at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“The bear first looked into our living room, putting its paws on the window,” Ostrouchov said in an e-mail. “Then he (we assume it was a young male) proceeded to check out our grill. The grill happened to be still on to clean itself after grilling.”
A black bear eats at a bird feeder on Oglethorpe Place in Oak Ridge this week. (Submitted photos by Todd and Cheryl Thomas)
Residents in north Oak Ridge reported seeing a bear in yards on Orchard Circle and Oglethorpe Place and on Key Springs Road this week, eating at bird feeders and climbing up on backyard grills.
It’s not clear if the bear spotted in north Oak Ridge this week is the same bear that was spotted in Woodland on May 22. There were also reports of a mother and cub on the west end of Y-12 National Security Complex last week.
After almost two days of bear sightings in Oak Ridge, Y-12 National Security Complex workers reported Wednesday night that a mother black bear and cub were last seen before 7 p.m. on the west end of Bear Creek Road.
Earlier in the day, an employee reported that a bear was spotted on the north side of Y-12.
A young black bear, about 15 months old and 150 pounds, gets ready to jump a fence in a yard on North Purdue Avenue.
A young black bear zigzagged through Oak Ridge Tuesday, hopping fences, crossing busy streets, and avoiding dogs and curious humans as it headed south.
Late Tuesday evening, officers from the Oak Ridge Police Department and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency tried to herd the elusive bear away from homes in the Woodland neighborhood, possibly south toward Melton Hill Lake and Y-12 National Security Complex.
