Black Bear Spotted in West Deptford?

There are more black bears per square mile in northwestern New Jersey than anywhere else in the country, according to the fish and wildlife division of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 

But on Saturday night, a Spring Street resident reported to police that he thought he saw one in the woods behind his West Deptford home.

Officers responding did hear something in the woods around 11 p.m. Saturday and called NJDEP, police said. There was no physical interaction with an animal, however.

"There’s bears in all 21 counties in New Jersey," Larry Ragonese, NJDEP press director, told Patch Monday evening.

"It’s less common down in your neck of the woods, but we get the occasional sighting," he said.

Black bears have "plenty of habitat" throughout the state, Ragonese said. They are non-aggressive and suburban residents should appreciate—rather than fear—their presence.

"Just because you see a bear, it’s not a reason to call anybody," he said. "It would be no different than if you see a deer going through your yard, or a fox. 

"What black bears are doing is looking for something to eat and a nice place to curl up and a nice place to rest," Ragonese said. "That’s what they do."

Occasionally, the path of a black bear will lead it near a residential area, Ragonese said. He said that in northern New Jersey, it's not uncommon to discover a bear nesting beneath someone's deck. 

"We had a case up in Jefferson where a black bear got in someone’s cellar door and had holed up behind someone’s furnace and scared the heck out of the cable guy," he said.

Bears are to be feared and respected—and above all, not fed. 

"Don’t mistake them for cuddly cartoon characters," Ragonese said. "Then what you do is encourage bears to get acclimated to humans. They don’t know one human from the next. 

"If you see them, you give them some distance," he said. "Don’t cross their path; they won’t cross yours.

"Make a little bit of noise and they’ll normally go away."

New Jersey does have a comprehensive black bear management policy and tips for homeowners in bear-dense areas. Proper trash management, Ragonese said, is a big one. 

"If bears regularly go past your house, you want to put your trash inside," he said. If you have pet bowls, don’t leave them on your deck. If you grill the night before, scrub your grill clean, because bears will smell it."

Ragonese said the DEP does everything it can to minimize the number of human-bear encounters, because "they go bad for the bear.

"If they do enter a home, a campsite, kill livestock, then we do end up euthanizing the bear," he said. 

"So don’t feed them. Just enjoy them."