Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - Residents near Sherbrooke Avenue and Hopkins Road were advised on Tuesday to keep an eye out for a black bear that was spotted in their neighborhood.
The Amherst Police Department said Tuesday morning officials confirmed multiple bear sightings along Sherbrooke Avenue, with the first taking place near Maple Road. The bear eventually found its way into a more wooded area behind a residence on Hopkins Road, where officials were able to contain the bear for several hours.
Officials from Amherst Police, Amherst Animal Control and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) all responded to the scene Tuesday morning and into the afternoon hours.
According to DEC officials on Wednesday, the black bear exited that immediate vicinity around dusk Tuesday night, and an Environmental Conservation Police Officer (ECO) observed the bear heading North.
The bear's current location is unknown.
The DEC further advises if the bear returns to the area, contact the agency's regional wildlife representatives at (716)-379-6402. The DEC adds it will continue to closely monitor the situation, and assist local law enforcement as needed.
Michael Wohl lives right next door to the residence on Hopkins Road where the bear was contained on Tuesday morning. He says it was shortly after 10 a.m. ET when he noticed something was off while sitting on his back porch.
"A deer come running out from behind our shed, which we see a lot. They live back there, they come here and they graze. But the deer stopped and made really awful noises, and I have never heard a deer make any noises ever before. These were like croaking noises, they were really alarming noises," said Wohl in his driveway on Tuesday. "The deer was back-and-forth, back-and-forth, and all of a sudden took off like a bat out of hell. And we heard a disturbance, there was obviously something back there. Never actually saw the bear, but like I said, the other wildlife came running out of there. And then the cops showed up and [said], 'There's a bear here,' and we're like, 'Oh yeah, we figured that.'"
Chris Jeffrey has lived most of her life in the Town of Amherst, and wanted to make sure the bear was taken care of safely on Tuesday.
"I want to make sure that it's tranquilized and not shot. That's my main concern today, and why I'm here. To watch and see what happens," said Jeffrey while visiting the site on Tuesday.
Wohl says Tuesday's bear sighting was the most excitement he's seen on Hopkins Road since he first moved there 15 years ago.
"I remember years ago, maybe 10 or 12 years ago, they spotted a bear in the Eastern Hills parking lot. You've heard of it, you've seen it, it's a thing you've heard of. They killed one up on Campbell Road a few years ago in Amherst," Wohl recalled.
Jeffrey can also remember another recent bear incident in the Town of Amherst not too long ago.
"We had one a couple of years ago, and he ended up getting, I believe, hit by a car on the [I-]990. That was back a few years ago," she said. "They normally don't come here. Maybe they're coming here to get food. They have nowhere else to go, or they just lose their path."
Wohl was not surprised on Tuesday with a bear making himself comfortable in his neighbor's backyard. He was even told, at one point, officials were monitoring the bear while it was sleeping.
"His yard is filled with debris. Lots of places for an animal to hide, and there are a bunch of wild apple and pear trees back there. So there is a lot of food sources. It would be easy to understand why there would be animals back there," Wohl said.
While the wooded area behind his house is mostly dry, at this point of the year, Wohl says it's usually more wet back there, especially since it dips down a bit the further you move from Hopkins Road toward Sherbrooke Avenue.
"There's some low and constantly muddy, wet spots back there. A lot of it was ash forest when we moved in 15 years ago, and the emerald ash borer killed all the ash trees, so there's a lot of trees down and it's pretty impenetrable back there. For this part of Amherst, you'd think there's nothing like that. Yes, there is. There are parts you can't even get through without a machete," he said.
Officials are hoping with the cooling temperatures later in the evening, the bear will make its way safely from that part of the neighborhood and return to more of its natural habitat. If not, officials may end up looking at trying to tranquilize the bear, if necessary.
"The residents are staying indoors, most of them. A lot are coming out to see what's going on. Some people aren't even made aware of it yet. I found out about it on Facebook, so I decided to come out," Jeffrey said. "Like I said, I just wanted to make sure that bear is taken care of properly, and released somewhere else."
"I haven't heard they have an actual plan. All they told me was, 'Let it sleep for now, and at night, something will happen.' Doesn't sound necessarily like a good idea to me, because I don't want it on my back porch tonight. It hops over these fences like nothing, at least that's what they said," Wohl added.
Police warn residents if you see a bear, don't approach it or try to confront it in any way. They also advise to keep children and pets indoors.
In addition, police are requesting residents in the area not to feed any bear, because bears are likely seeking food sources when entering a residential area such as this.
"If they can not find a substantial food source, they will move elsewhere," said Amherst Police in a release.
