Police confirm bear spotted in Clairton

There’s a different kind of bear walking the streets of Clairton.

No, not the high school’s Clairton Bears that produced NFL wide receiver Tyler Boyd: We’re talking a real-life black bear.

Clairton police said in a Facebook post that a black bear was seen in the area of State Route 837 and Miller Road.

The bear is about 2 years old and 150 pounds.

Robert Yusko, deputy game warden with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said the bear is likely the same one spotted in Bethel park and Upper St. Clair earlier this month.

“It’s that time of the year where the young bears are getting basically flown out of the nest,” he said. “They’ve been on the move.”

Yusko said they can travel up to 10 miles each day and are trying to adjust to living life on their own without their mothers.

“You’ve got a teenager that has no clue what he’s doing,” Yusko said.

He said as long as the bears remain on the move they don’t pose much of a risk for residents.

“You don’t want to startle the bear,” Yusko said. “If you do see them you want to slowly back away. Don’t give your back to the animal.”

He said residents should keep all pet food and bird feeders inside so they don’t attract the bears. He said trash should also be stored securely until trash day.

This isn’t the first bear to be spotted across the region this spring. Bears have been seen in South Fayette, Penn Hills, Kittanning and Franklin Park, and two bears were hit by cars in West Deer and Hampton.

The game commission has previously said it gets most nuisance bear complaints from April through June. By mid-summer, most bear issues have gone away as there’s lot of natural food in the woods. Bears are omnivores that will prey on new-born deer fawns and eat road kill, berries, grains, grasses, honey and more.