A black bear was spotted meandering through yards along Hawthorne Avenue and Chatfield Street in Derby Thursday.
Homeowners pulled out their cell phones to document their brush with nature.
Second Ward Derby Alderman Art Gerkens posted a video to his Facebook page showing the bear lounging on a rock wall under a tree.
Gerckens lives on Hawthorne Avenue, around the corner from the Leo F. Ryan Athletic Complex.
A person off-camera, apparently a state environmental officer, can be heard estimating the bear weighed 150 to 200 pounds.
The Alderman’s video was shared on the Valley Indy Facebook page and is embedded below:
The bear was also spotted up Chatfield Street across from the Derby High School football field.
Adam Coppola emailed photos to the Valley Indy, one of which is posted at the top of this story.
Coppola said he saw the bear at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday.
The 417-acre Osbournedale State Park is also on Chatfield Street.
A black bear was also spotted Tuesday on Silver Hill Road in Ansonia, according to an email sent by a police-fire-EMS incident alert group.
There were three black bear sightings this week in Derby, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Seymour had 23 black bear sightings in the same time period.
Residents are advised to remove their bird feeders in order to stop attracting bears to their properties.
Click this link for more black bears “do’s and don’ts.”
