Bears in NJ. A friend said a relative of hers in NJ had seen a black bear in their yard.

[raccoon]

Silly me, I had sort of visualized NJ to be entirely urban...

[Delarage]

1. I have family in South Jersey

Beautiful farmland, riverfront & bay-front areas. Lots of great diners. I love going over there.

Black bears have been on the rise in this region. In Delaware, we had a young black bear--dubbed "Dela-bear" -- that was in the news everyday until it was unfortunately hit by a car

[Walleye]

2. Well, it is the Garden State

[Jrsygrl96]

3. Bears in the suburbs

We live near the airport JFK Jr. took off from that fateful day back in 1999. Not that long ago we saw two black bear cubs on the side of the road adjacent to that airport.

If you want to laugh, google Rockaway, NJ bears. Hysterical!

[Sedona]

4. Carmela Soprano vs Bear

Re-watched the Sopranos again recently .

Totally forgot about this gem.

?si=r7Z0PsMxFw_OxUgY

[Niagara]

5. There was a black bear spotted at the end of July in a suburb of Buffalo (Amherst)

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/black-bear-sighting-in-amherst-wny-buffalo-animals/71-6299e4e9-cbc8-4fe5-aa32-c673ca43fb5a


In 2018, there was a black bear that was traveling from town to town in the Buffalo area. The bear ended up getting hit by a vehicle causing an injury and an Amherst LEO shot it dead.

I hope that this recent black bear sighting doesn't result like the last one did. The end result didn't sit well with me.

[TwilightZone]

6. About 45% of NJ is forested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylands_Region

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Pine_Barrens

[PJMcK]

7. We have black bears,...

… bald eagles, deer, bobcats, snakes, woodchucks & other ground creatures, hawks, wild turkeys, skunks and more.

Of course, our house is in the rural mountains of NE Pennsylvania. Nature is beautiful. This is really their home, not mine.

[Nittersing]

8. I grew up in NJ, five minutes from the George Washington bridge

Growing up in the 60s, we didn't see much wildlife beyond birds.

But now I hear reports of deer and (lots of) wild turkeys and who knows what else. The GW bridge was built in 1927 so it took wildlife about 40-50 years to figure out how to navigate suburbia.

[10 Turtle Day]

9. I live in an urban neighborhood in Ohio and we have all sorts of creatures

Deer everywhere, raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, rabbits, red shouldered hawks, fox and coyotes. Had a mostly eaten fawn in my yard recently. My neighbor put a trail cam up and caught images of the coyote coming back for its leftovers the next night. Sorry I can’t seem to figure out how to post photos or I would add it. I haven’t seen any bears yet, but they are in the more rural counties. Great comeback story.