Images of that bear were captured by a man with a cell phone video camera on Friday.
Click here to watch the raw video
"We can't confirm whether that was the bear that's been travelling through Durham," Lt Terry Sutton with Animal Control explained.
The last time the bear was sighted in Durham, it was on Cole Mill Road which is near where the bear along I-85 was found. There have been no other calls about sightings since, so it's possible it's the same animal.
But it's also possible there was more than one.
Jim Yuill encountered a bear just after dropping off his pregnant wife at Durham Regional Hospital.
"We looked out, and a bear came running towards us, and at first I thought this has to be a person in a bear costume," he recalled.
Yuill and his mother-in-law quickly ran to their car - relieved his wife was safely inside the building.
"The worst case scenario is walking out of the hospital with a baby in our arms and a bear runs up," he offered.
Luckily, that didn't happen.
"He saw something and stopped and then turned around and ran back toward the emergency room," he said. "My concern at first was people in the parking lot who didn't know he was there because he wasn't a cuddly teddy bear."
Wildlife officials say black bear sightings in the Triangle are rare, but they do happen especially this time of year.
"Right now, bears are breeding and they're in search of mates - also their foraging for food," Sutton explained.
That food could be in your garbage. That's why keeping trash indoors and staying a safe distance away is best if you see one.
