Officers on patrol in Baltimore County discovered a friend... pic.twitter.com/YYcdbmHiib

— MD NRP (@MDNRPolice) July 3, 2016 Locals were not the only ones enjoying Maryland parks on the Fourth of July weekend.

Officials received reports of a black bear roaming the Baltimore-Howard county region, Maryland Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson said. While out between noon and 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 3, Thomson said some officers even captured a video with the animal in the background at a park where picnickers reported seeing the animal nearby.

"The officers were on patrol but were aware of the presence of a bear in the area, so they decided to stop and size up the situation," Thomson said of the circumstances leading up to the 15-second video. Natural resources officials "would rather not pinpoint where the video was shot," Thomson told Patch. "However, I can say that our communications center had calls all weekend about bear sightings in Oella, Ellicott City, Woodlawn and Catonsville."

However, baby bears may roam up to 200 miles in a process called "dispersing" in which they try to find their own territory. After dispersing, young bears usually settle in places with established bear populations in western Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Black bear sightings in the state are most common in eastern Maryland in June and July.