Game Commission Working To Trap Bear In Monroeville
MONROEVILLE (KDKA) - Game Commission officials are working to catch a bear that has been hanging around a Monroeville neighborhood for the past week.
Some residents have been getting too close to the bear, while some have even fed it.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says being that close to a wild black bear is a problem.
"People need to make sure they keep a safe distance a very good buffer zone and do not feed this bear and don't try to get close to it to take pictures," Dave Puhala, of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said. "After watching some of the news footage from yesterday, it appears people are intentionally feeding the bear, which is illegal in Pennsylvania."
Not only is it illegal, it's dangerous for both the public and the bear.
"We have a saying, "A fed bear is a dead bear," and that's for a lot of different reasons. If that bear tried to attack somebody because it got too close to it, we might have to act on that," Puhala said.
Puhala is working to catch the bear and release him in either Indiana or Somerset counties.
Today, he set up a trap and is waiting for the bear to get itself caught.
"If the bear goes all the way in trap and hits the plate, the door will slam shut and he'll be locked in there," Puhala said.
Once caught, the bear will be well on its way back to the wild.
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