SLIPPERY ROCK TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Lawrence County woman is the latest to tell Channel 11 about bear sightings in her own backyard.
We told you earlier this week about a bear spotted swimming in North Park Lake.
On Thursday, Channel 11 heard from Susan Zehetner about her recent encounter with wildlife.
“I had come back home, and I noticed our giant planters had been turned over on our front porch, and I thought, ‘Oh boy.’”
It was the moment Zehetner realized she hadn’t been alone the night before.
“And I looked at the camera, and I was just completely shocked.”
She was shocked to see not just one bear, but five of them: a mama and her four cubs, sniffing through her yard in Slippery Rock Township.
“We kept counting these babies. There was four babies, and it is literally right under our bedroom window.”
Black bear mating season in Pennsylvania typically runs from early June through mid-July, and sightings have been on the rise in recent weeks.
Allegheny County Parks issued an alert after the bear sighting at North Park Lake.
Not too far away, a viewer shared photos with us of a bear on her back deck in McCandless Township.
Zehetner says her husband had his own close encounter just last week.
She says he was getting ready to leave the house when he heard an unmistakable sound.
“He wasn’t paying much attention, and he heard this loud snort, and he was face to face with a bear.”
That bear ended up running off.
Zehetner says she’s taken down her bird feeders, and her grandchildren who live next door aren’t allowed outside by themselves while the bears are in the area.
“Hopefully we don’t see them again. Hopefully, mama takes care of them, and nobody gets hurt, and you know, they’re fun to have around, just not in our yard.”
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