FOREST HILL, Md. — A shock in the Forest Hill area of Harford County. A baby bear was spotted early Friday morning.
Roaming around in the middle of the night, a baby black bear caught on camera outside Ronnie's Beverage Warehouse in Forest Hill.
"I just thought it was crazy. I knew they were in the area but I’ve never seen one close to this area especially,” said Jeremy Abshire, general manager at Ronnie's Beverage Warehouse.
Abshire says a post on social media triggered his curiosity.
"So, we saw the video on Facebook this morning, and then decided to check our cameras and that was the one clip I was able to find on it,” said Abshire.
Around one in the morning, you can see the bear enter the parking light. When it gets under the spotlight something startles it and it takes off behind the store towards the apartments.
"I know we have a lot of people living behind the store, and a lot of kids, and a lot of pets, so, I just hope that everybody is safe and it's not invading any bodies homes or yards,” said Megan Hunter, co-owner of Ronnie's Beverage Warehouse.
The video brought a similar shock from Hunter.
“It is a little crazy that there was an actual [bear], cause at first, when I saw the video of it that was sent, I was like there's no way that this is an actual bear,” said Hunter.
But it was, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
"We got one report of a bear overnight, probably the same bear," said Brian Eyler, associate director of game management at the Maryland DNR.
According to Eyler, this is not that unusual of a spotting. Especially this time of year as there is a healthy bear population in the Mid Atlantic.
"It's the breading season for bears right now. So, [the] younger bears are being pushed out and the sows are breeding again. So, most time when we see bears in the eastern part of the state they're young males that are just trying to find a new home range,” said Eyler.
He said there have only been two bear attacks in the state of Maryland and generally black bears are not aggressive. If you do see a bear, just keep your distance and remove food that might attract a bear.
