We Have a New Neighbor

Our neighbor had mentioned to me last Friday that she had met a couple on the trails in the woods behind out house who had seen a small bear out in clearing. Tonight my mom called and said she had seen something on TV about a bear in the park. Here is the story from the KARE11.com website:

Black bear sighted in Eagan park
Eagan Police are asking residents and visitors to be aware that a black bear has been sighted near the area of Patrick Eagan Park. Earlier this month as darkness fell, a couple returning from a walk, saw a small black bear cross the path in front of them. The bear was spotted about 50 yards from the trail head near the Eagan Art House off of Lexington Avenue. No one else has seen the bear, but on Monday Park staff found tracks along the south shore of McCarthy Lake, in the nearly 100-acre natural park. Photographs were sent to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Officials there confirmed they were bear tracks. Black bears are not known to be aggressive and it is likely the bear will move, in time, to a more rural area, according to Byran Lueth, a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources urban wildlife specialist.

We will be keeping our eyes open and cameras ready, just in case we can get a photo. (Maybe a better one than the track print shown here.) Besides the usual deer and raccoons, we have seen a wolf back there in the past and coyotes have also been spotted back there.