Thirteen-year-old Jevon Butler had a startling encounter with a black bear while biking near the archery range by Bock Road in Fort Washington. Butler escaped unharmed, and the sighting was later reported to Maryland\u2019s Department of Natural Resources. \n<\/p>\n
Jevon Butler was out for a bike ride near the Tucker Road Community Center in Fort Washington, Maryland, when he had a close encounter with a black bear.<\/p>\n
The eighth grader was near the archery range near Bock Road, which backs to a wooded area, when he said he stopped to check his phone. And that\u2019s when he had an odd feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard leaves moving,\u201d but, \u201cthe day was not windy at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, he told WTOP, he saw it.<\/p>\n
\u201cA black bear had popped out\u201d of the woods and was looking at him, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was, I would say, 500 feet away from me, then when I had made eye contact with it, it just started chasing me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Butler, 13, said he hopped on his bike and was riding up the hill on Bock Road.<\/p>\n
Butler said after some time, he saw the bear turn back and amble off into the woods. He said the cars along Bock Road had slowed down: \u201cI\u2019m guessing they had seen it too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black bears may look slow and heavy, but they can achieve bursts of speed of up to 35 mph.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, I didn\u2019t get to get any photos \u2014 because I wasn\u2019t thinking of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His grandmother, Sherry Ponder, told WTOP that Butler raced home to tell her he\u2019d been chased by a bear. She was, at first, skeptical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, come on son, come on, are you sure?\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n
Maybe, she thought, he\u2019d just seen somebody\u2019s big black dog running loose? But as he repeated the details of the story, Ponder said she decided to report a bear sighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when he came in the house, he was shaking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Gregg Bortz, the media relations manager with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said they did hear from Ponder about the sighting, but haven\u2019t had any other reports and \u201cat this time, we can\u2019t confirm anything.\u201d However, Bortz noted, \u201ca black bear roaming in that area would certainly be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bortz explained that in late August, a black bear sighting was confirmed in Nanjemoy, about 26 miles away.<\/p>\n
In May, a black bear was spotted in a Prince George\u2019s County neighborhood and was relocated to Western Maryland.<\/p>\n
That same bear then turned up in Herndon, Virginia, in mid-June before he was once again tranquilized and relocated to another, more suitable location. That bear was dubbed \u201cElden,\u201d memorialized with a proclamation and adopted as the new mascot for the Town of Herndon\u2019s Parks and Recreation Department.<\/p>\n
Bortz said Maryland\u2019s DNR advises anyone with questions about black bears to visit their website, Living With Black Bears<\/a> or consult the website BearWise.org<\/a><\/p>\n