Black bear roams, naps in Pittsburgh's Highland Park area

Residents of Pittsburgh’s Highland Park got a visit Tuesday from a large black bear who decided the neighborhood was a good place to take a nap.

Public Safety officials first tweeted about the bear, which weighs at least 250 pounds, around 1:15 p.m. At the time, it was calm and resting under a tree.

They later updated to say the bear had “bedded down in a shady area on Heberton Street.”

More than two hours later, the bear had been tranquilized and safely loaded into a bear trap. It will be relocated to an uninhabited area outside of the county by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Public Safety officials said.

“This was a large bear for our area — at least 250 pounds,” Public Safety tweeted.

The bear has been loaded into the bear trap, safe and sound. Game Commission intends to relocate it to an uninhabited area outside of the county. This was a large bear for our area — at least 250 pounds. https://t.co/Johx6XiDm8

— Pgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) June 16, 2020

Despite the bear appearing to be calm, officials reminded people that it is a wild, unpredictable animal.

Officials said to avoid the area, as they didn’t want “to spook the bear.”

They also asked whoever was flying a helicopter low over the bear to stop because it could scare it.

“Please, media, do not send helicopters. We need quiet right now,” officials tweeted.

Also, whoever is flying the red helicopter low over the bear, that is very dangerous and could scare the it, which would make it dangerous and unpredictable. Please leave the area now. https://t.co/w5Ico9HtlT

— Pgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) June 16, 2020

Bear sightings are up this year due to cooler-than-usual May temperatures, which brought more bears out during the daytime, and because more people have been staying home because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Pennsylvania Game Commission told the Tribune-Review in May.

A second bear was seen Tuesday several miles away in Arnold.

Bears had been spotted earlier along Route 28 near the Pittsburgh Mills mall exit in Frazer as well as in Tarentum, Ohio Township, Richland, Cranberry and elsewhere.