For the past 13 years, Bridgeport’s Sheila Alvarez has become more than just a novice hunter. In order to get her son involved in hunting, she opted to head out into the woods and learn on the fly. More than a dozen years later, she’s a regular who had had just one real concern.

 

“Whenever I’ve gone hunting, one of my biggest worries would be running into a bear,” said Alvarez. “That was something that always went through my head.”

 

As it turned out Alvarez had her bear encounter Tuesday evening. The irony about it was that she wasn’t hunting or anywhere near the woods. Instead, she was just off of Main Street Bridgeport when something caught her attention.

 

“I was coming towards the Burnside Car Wash and I thought I noticed something. As soon as I could get into the area to turn into Provence it was coming from behind the (Burnside) Funeral Home,” said Alvarez.

 

What “it” turned out to be was the elusive black bear that Alvarez felt she would encounter in the woods And she wasn’t’ alone on Thursday.

 

Bridgeport  Police, 911 and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources were all notified about bear sightings in and around Bridgeport. Reports of the bear at Home Depot, near Maple Lake, beside the Speedway and other areas were among the areas listed. On Tuesday morning, DNR Sgt. Robert “Bob” G. Waybright was at one of the areas where the bear was viewed – near Speedway – as part of one of several calls he received about bears being spotted in Bridgeport.

 

“There were three more sightings reported to us in Bridgeport last night,” said Waybright this morning.

 

One of those was likely a notification of Alvarez’s siting, who called 911 after she saw the bear and took several pictures of it.

 

“I was kind of in shock, but was able to turn into Provence Market and he stopped right in front of the van we were in. There was, I think a small fence between us and him and I grabbed my cell phone and started taking some pictures,” said Alvarez. “There was another car slowing down behind me and I think it may have spooked him a little bit, but he opened his mouth and I could see his teeth and, honestly, that was a bit scary. Eventually, he just took off up toward Maxwell Street and I called 911.”

 

Captain Roy Cool with the DNR out of Farmington said that taking pictures isn’t an issue. In fact, he said just exercise caution.

 

“That’s not a problem as long as it’s taken from a distance,” said Cool.

 

As for the bear wandering through highly populated parts of Bridgeport and near heavy commercial areas, Cool said this isn’t something that’s groundbreaking for this area or others like it in West Virginia.

 

“It’s not highly unusual. I haven’t seen the bear, but generally what happens is that after two years a mother bear will run her cubs off and you’ll find a young male bear cub wandering aimlessly until he finds his own home area,” Cool said. “In most cases, these are usually male cubs and the worst thing people can do is start feeding it. It’s like offering candy to a baby. If you offer the candy, they’re going to take it and they’re never going to leave.

 

“We’re asking people to leave it alone, do not bother it and definitely do not try to feed it,” Cool continued. “If there is garbage outside of your area, please put it inside and do the same with any other food sources. Eventually, this bear will move on.”

 

Cool said his DNR office doesn’t have plans, as of today, to send anyone to Bridgeport to perhaps relocate the bear through various means. That could change, however, if it becomes a persistent problem.

 

“If it’s causing a real problem in an area, that’s when we contact our Wildlife Division and make attempts to get the bear removed from the area,” said Cool. “In the meantime, I would recommend if anyone sees the bear to give a courtesy call to 911 in a non-emergency fashion just to let them basically know what is going on and where the bear is located.”

 

While Cool believes it’s a younger bear, Alvarez said although she’s never encountered one that based on conversations with others in her family who have encountered and even hunted bears that they don’t believe that’s the case.

 

“It certainly looked large. It looked fully grown,” said Alvarez.

 

Cool said his office deals with this on a regular basis when a bear is spotted in residential areas. He said the general pattern involves an influx of calls to the office before the bear moves on.

 

“It’s a new and exciting thing, but people also become alarmed and frightened. Everyone needs to exercise patience because it’s not there to harm anyone,” he said. “Again, if you see the bear please keep yourself a safe distance from it.”

 

Click HERE for original story with additional photos.

 

Editor's Note: Top two photos courtesy of Sheila Alvarez and taken Tuesday evening. Bottom photo is of Sgt. Bob Waybright of the DNR doing his initial investigation along U.S. Route 50/Main Street in Bridgeport Tuesday morning.