Weekend bear sightings in Raleigh and Chapel Hill raise eyebrows
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- There were some unexpected visitors in the Triangle this weekend, with multiple bear sightings reported -- both in Raleigh, and in Chapel Hill.
"It was kind of a little shock, but it was more like excitement, like, honestly, like, wow, that's a real bear. That's pretty cool," said Michael Reaves, who saw a bear in his north Raleigh driveway on Friday. The lifelong Raleigh resident said it was just the second time he's seen a bear here, and he was surprised to hear from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission that bears do venture into the area this time of year.
"We're outside the city limits, but only about a hundred yards. So it's like, you know, it's, it's, it's really insane that there's, bears this close now," he said. Reaves said he thought the bear was his neighbor's dog at first.
There were also multiple bear sightings reported in Chapel Hill this weekend, all in the vicinity of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. One sighting was captured on a doorbell-camera video provided to ABC11.
NC Wildlife says if you see a bear, you shouldn't approach or feed it. They also recommend securing your food and garbage in a safe place, not leaving pet food outside, and storing any outdoor grills.
Reaves said he and his wife will be more vigilant moving forward.
"We're assuming it was trying to like kind of get in and out of people's trash and stuff like that," he said. "So we ended up bringing the trash cans inside the garage. So I guess we'll do that from now on instead of just kind of leaving them outside."
