HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Growing neighborhoods and nature are clashing in parts of Hampton Roads as bear sightings have residents concerned.
The latest bear was spotted in Chesapeake in a neighborhood near Greenbrier Mall at the corner of Volvo and Greenbrier parkways. In addition, doorbell camera video showed a large bear dangerously close to home in the College Park neighborhood in Virginia Beach over the weekend.
The two locations are less than two miles apart.
“It was just walking around like it lived there,” said Joann Hutt. “I’m always out messing in my yard, and so now, I feel like every time I come out, I’ve got to look here and look there to make sure the bear is not around.”
Andrew Lanham was coming home from work Tuesday morning when he saw a bear crossing through people’s yards.
“I was like, ‘Wait, what is it? Like, what am I seeing?’ And I had no idea,” Lanham said. “But then I got closer and I saw that it was really a bear, and then I was terrified because I didn’t know if kids were out at the bus stop or anything.”
He then followed it and even honked his horn to warn a jogger.
“He was jogging, and then he started to sprint afterwards,” Lanham said. “I was just terrified. I was like, ‘Wait, I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ I never knew I would be down here in Greenbrier.”
Marie Harris’ doorbell camera caught a bear walking across her front porch in the College Park neighborhood in Virginia Beach.
She watches kids during the day at her in-home daycare and told us:
“We’re not going outside,” Harris said. “We are going to wait to go outside.”
She says about 20 minutes prior, her husband and grandson were out front painting the porch.
“My neighbor right here told me that the bear is in the area,” Harris said, “and I just happened to open the door and as soon I opened the door, he came from this way.”
After going through Harris’ yard, the bear traveled through other yards over to Joann Hutt’s house.
“You know, you’ve got to worry there’s people who walk for exercise, so you don’t ever know,” Hutt said. “They told me to stay in the house so I guess I’m just supposed to stay inside forever, you just don’t know.”
Hutt has lived in the area for more than 20 years and says she’s never even seen a fox in her yard.
“Never, never anything to really, you know, frighten me like a bear,” Hutt said. “But when I look at that video and I see that bear walking around, I said, ‘Oh, no, that’s a real bear.'”
Virginia Department of Wildlife resources said this is usually a time when they have more reports of bear sightings in our area.
“It’s just, they’re doing bear things in a different area and so we hear a lot about it,” said Pete Acker, a district biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resource Pete Acker.
Acker said this is normally when teen boy bears venture out searching for food.
“They are teenagers, so to speak,” Acker said. “They’re not very bright. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
He said the future of this bear and its behavior depends on people’s actions in the neighborhoods.
“That bear is around houses because it’s hungry and it smells things like trashcans and bird feeders,” Acker said. “That’s why our main message is just for folks to secure those food sources [and] make it so the bear can’t get rewarded by coming near your house.”
He said it’s a cool sight to see, and the bear is probably more afraid of you than you are of it. DWR said they rarely relocate the bears unless they’re aggressive or causing severe property damage, such as damage to someone’s car or fence.
“I always tell folks, ‘take a picture, tell your friends, that’s neat, you have to see a bear, just don’t chase it, don’t throw sticks at it, don’t corner it.’ That’s pretty obvious,” Acker said. “I don’t think folks are out there doing that anyway, but they’re just native wildlife. They’re not a risk to people any more than raccoons or deer are a risk to people.”
“I mean, this is my neighborhood,” Lanham said. “I’ve lived here for a long time. I just don’t want anyone getting hurt, I wanted to be a protector.”
In the meantime, Lanham said it was a crazy sight to see, but he is thankful everyone is OK.
DWR said they have been advised of the sightings, and they do keep track of how often bears are spotted in our area. If you have one to report, or if you need to get in touch with them, the Wildlife Conflict number is 855-571-9003.