Bear visits Gainesville neighborhood

Bear Sightings in Prince WIlliam County

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There has been another bear sighting – this time on Carver Road just off of Va. 29 in Gainesville.

Yvette Hunyady was driver he car along the road just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday when she saw a black bear in the middle of the road.

She said the bear was small and was walking on all of its four legs. Then it stood up when it saw her, but then got back down on all fours and ran toward a nearby house.

She said the bear was about 5 feet tall when it stood and that it could’ve run into the woods.

“I was a little scared because if the small bear is around then I thought maybe its mother could be somewhere nearby,” said Hunyady.

She called police who told her they would send someone from their animal control unit there to look for the bear. Then she went to warn the residents of the nearby home.

Hunyady spotted the bear near what was once considered a rural area, but in recent years homes that make up a neighborhood along Somerset Crossing Drive have been built, near Carver Road.

Black bears are not at all uncommon in Virginia, so says the state’s department of game and inland fisheries.

During the summertime bears often are out searching for mates. During the springtime they are usually in search of food, according to the agency.

Last month another black bear showed up at a home on Feather Lane in Nokesville, near Vint Hill Road. That neighborhood is still surrounded by open space and has not yet been brushed by the effects of suburban sprawl. And near Haymarket, another bear made an appearance at church during Sunday morning services.

Earlier this month, in southern Stafford County, another black bear was spotted running around the parking lot of a grocery store near the satellite campus of the University of Mary Washington.

A spokeswoman for Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said they usually do not try and trap bears because then they become responsible for relocating the bear, and because it causes severe physical and emotional impact on the animal.

The spokeswoman went on to say that pets, such as dogs and cats, should be brought inside when bears are spotted in neighborhoods, and that residents should remove any outside sources of food, such as bird feeders and trash cans, as the bears are usually scavenging for food.

Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.