Update: Four Black Bear Sightings in Montgomery This Week

One sighting reported in Bethesda, another at Woodmont Country Club

via Montgomery Parks on Facebook

Update – 9:45 a.m. Thursday – The bears are back in town. There have now been four black bear sightings in Bethesda, Silver Spring and Rockville this week, according to Wildlife Manager Ken D’Loughy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and fire department spokesman Pete Piringer.

The first bear was spotted at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville on Sunday night and reported to DNR. A second sighting of a black bear was reported by a resident in the Dean Road area of Silver Spring on Monday. Also, a resident reported seeing one Tuesday night on Cheshire Drive in Bethesda, not far from Walter Johnson High School.

The fourth bear sighting was reported Thursday morning in the area of Rockville Town Square, according to Piringer. The fire department spokesman wrote on his Twitter account at 9:04 a.m. that "Rockville PD and city officials are monitoring the situation – Be Aware of the Bear"

Rockville officials later confirmed contact with a 150-pound bear and that police were directing it out of the downtown area and toward rural areas in the direction of I-270.

"The bear spotted today has made no aggressive movements," said Lt. Eric Over, in a Rockville press release. "We just want to get it back to its natural habitat."

Black bear sightings aren’t unusual this time of year, according to D’Loughy. He said 2-year-old males often travel over a hundred miles at the beginning of summer in search of a territory to call their own, which often brings them from the western part of the state to the more residential areas in the east.

D’Loughy advised residents to keep their distance if they spot a black bear, which aren’t known to be dangerous to humans.

“Let it go about its business,” D’Loughy said. “It’s basically on the move. They’ll end up in a person’s yard, primarily based on a food attractant.” He says bird feeders are popular among bears, as well as unsecured trash. He advises residents to remove bird feeders and secure trash if there’s a report of a bear in the area.

Wild animals of all kinds live in the Bethesda area, according to a 2012 story in Bethesda Magazine. The Washington Post reported last month that the black bear population, estimated at 1,000 in the state, has been on the rise and that there have been increasing sightings in Montgomery County.