UPDATED: Bear Remains On The Lam

UPDATE: Bear Walks Into Game Commission Trap, Removed From Area

UPDATED: 7:34 p.m., Tuesday:

The bear walking in the woods by the sound barriers for Route 1.
Credit: Submitted

The residents on Makefield Turn in Falls Township had a visitor in their neighborhood Tuesday.

A black bear, who is estimated to weigh about 150 pounds, wandered around the neighborhood off Lincoln Highway and in the woods between Route 1 and West Trenton Avenue.

Jim Allison, who has lived on Makefield Turn since 1974, was outside taking clothes out to hang when he saw the juvenile bear trekking by.

“I hollered to my wife to open the door,” he said, adding it was the first bear he recalls in the neighborhood.

A neighbor, Danielle, said she was outside working when the bear strolled by at the end of the street. She captured a short video of it.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” she said.

Kelly Kerner, Danielle’s neighbor, said the two were texting earlier in the day after a fox was making a mating call overnight. That led to a joke about the neighbors feeling like they were living in the wilderness.

Shortly after, the bear came through.

Authorities said the bear may have swam across the Delaware River from New Jersey and had previously been spotted in Lower Makefield Township.

Pennsylvania Game Warden Hannah Robinson the bear poses little risk to humans, but she asked people not to approach or provoke the animal.

She said wardens had placed a trap in the woods where the bear was hanging out. The goal was for him to hopefully make his way into the trap without having to be tranquilized.

As of 7 p.m., Falls Township police Chief Nelson Whitney said the bear remained on the loose. He urged residents not to approach the bear.

Original Story:

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but Falls Township police reported Tuesday afternoon that a bear had been sighted.

The bear was spotted by several people in the area of Makefield Turn by Lincoln Highway in the Morrisville section of the township, police said around 2:05 p.m.