Nature Scene: Chasing Down a Bear

Patch columnist Richard Wolfert shares his story of a day spent tracking down the Black Bear of East Brunswick.

When the automated phone report first came through about a small , my first impression was that it must be somewhere near Farrington Lake or Jamesburg Park…someplace heavily wooded. But an email from a friend, just a little while later, stated that she had not received the call. This indicated that the message was not town-wide, but localized. So I grabbed my cameras and went out to start driving around my area of East Brunswick. 

Almost immediately I came across a police car moving very slowly along my road. I asked the officer about the bear and he replied that it had been spotted about an hour earlier in the Walgreen's parking lot, about 1/4th of a mile from my home. He added that when last seen, it was moving toward Milltown. I reasoned that it might walk along the wall that borders the turnpike and follow that southwest, perhaps toward Church Lane where it might cross the turnpike to the much larger woods on the other side.

While driving about my section of town, John Saccenti, Editor of the East Brunswick Patch called. We compared notes and agreed that we would each let the other know if and when the bear was relocated. He would go out in just a few minutes to search in other places. After a fruitless 90 minutes, searching all the places I thought might be reasonable, and trying to not be pulled over by police for looking into people's yards, I returned home a little frustrated. Bears had been spotted in the region in the past, but none (to my knowledge) in East Brunswick. There, waiting for me, was an email from Cathy Blumig, sister of the town's Animal Control Department' head, David Blumig, with some interesting information. She speculated that this might be the same 273 pound bear (a male) that already had a history in Parsippany, Somerville, North Brunswick and Hightstown. (And, I found out later) that this bear had been tagged, so it's history would be well known.) To me, this was not a small bear, but, of course, not full grown, either. John called again and said that he had heard that it was seen a bit east of Target. I rushed over and quickly found a grouping of police cars and the township Animal Control truck.

It was interesting that no one saw the bear cross Milltown Road from the Walgreen's area. However, I was later told that someone did see it cross Ryder's Lane.

The police were friendly and informative, and helped me locate Dave Blumig. The bear was about 35 feet up in what appeared to be a Sweet Gum tree, which straddled the line between two backyards. It was resting, or perhaps trying its best to hide, from the 20 or so people (mostly police) who were in two backyards. It was determined that the state would not try to capture this bear because it was in a very difficult spot. Since the fence below it prevented any secure netting to be set up, and the yards were not well suited for any ladder trucks to approach, it would be best to wait for the bear to be trapped up a more accessible tree. It was reasoned that if the bear fell the 35 feet, it could hit the fence and be severely injured. It was therefore decided to leave the bear until it climbed down on its own.

This was a very exciting event, and only the second time I have been close to a live wild bear. There were few chances to get some very good shots but the bear did maneuver along the fairly narrow branch from time to time, even changing directions and appearing to nap. It did look as if it were more concerned about all the people below than the narrow branch on which it was perched. I can only hope that this bear is removed to somewhere distant where it is content with the surroundings and can live out its life in peace and quiet…far away from us.