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Grand Chute's Got a Bear of a Problem
May 4, 2006 06:24 PM CDT WBAY News
Bear Loose in Grand Chute

By Isabelle Kallie

People living in a Grand Chute neighborhood say they spotted an unfamiliar visitor: A black bear.

At least five officers surrounded a wooded lot in Prairie Hill Park near Northland Avenue after the reports Thursday morning. That's where the bear was last seen. Officers never found it, and never saw it come out, but they aren't sure if it's still in there.

Police say many neighbors started calling about the bear around 8 a.m. One caller after the next told them about a fully grown bear with a shiny black coat walking through the neighborhood.

"Right to our patio door to the back of the house, and there was the bear lopping across the back yard," Carl Kloehn said. The "bear was quite tall. I would say it's about two-and-a-half feet to its back, pretty good-sized bear."

One neighbor who's been living here for some time says he's seen deer, fox, raccoons, and even rare birds but never a large black bear. "I was just working on a snow blower in the garage and I looked up and I thought it was a black lab running across the yard," Don Fietzer said, "and I looked out the door and, no, it was a black bear that ran across my yard."

"Maybe 250, 300 pounds," he said.

It left fresh paw prints in some newly-spread dirt.

Police say the state Department of Natural Resources is aware of the bear sighting but the DNR says it won't come out unless the bear is up in a tree, cornered in someone's yard, or posing a threat. The DNR says bears are typically shy animals and will avoid people.

There have been other reported sightings of a bear but so far there have not been any other confirmed sightings.

"He was a beautiful looking animal, and he had a very shiny black coat, and it was actually quite pretty to look at," Kloehn said. :wink: