SARATOGA SPRINGS — Was a bear roaming around Regent Street on Tuesday? The state Department of Environmental Conservation didn’t find one, but says that it wouldn’t be unusual at this time of year.
A DEC environmental conservation officer responded to Regent Street in Saratoga Springs around 6 a.m. on Tuesday after the department received reports about a possible bear sighting there. The officer searched the area and other neighborhoods nearby, but didn’t find a bear, according to the DEC. The department didn’t receive any more reports of sightings.
It would’ve been at least the second time a bear was spotted in the region this year. A young black bear was captured on Second Avenue in Albany last month and released in the Catskills.
“This time of year, young bears, particularly 1-year-old males, disperse from the area of their birth,” the department said in a statement Wednesday. “They may move several dozen miles in this process, and occasionally they wind up in unusual spots, like an urban neighborhood.”
Jeremy Hurst, a DEC wildlife biologist, told the Times Union last month that there are between 6,000 and 8,000 bears throughout the state. Most live in the Adirondacks and Catskills.
“It’s not uncommon that we have bears come up here into suburban places,” he said.
The department asks that those who see a bear call 911 if that bear poses “an immediate risk to public safety.” If it’s not an emergency, spotters can call a DEC regional wildlife office or the DEC’s dispatch center at 1-844-332-3267.
Wendy Liberatore contributed reporting.