Video shows bear on University of Kentucky campus. Multiple Lexington sightings reported
Multiple reports of Lexington bear sightings have been backed up by a video that appears to show one on campus at the University of Kentucky.
UK Police received a call about the bear at around 3:50 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The caller also provided the video of the bear on campus. It can be seen running in front of the Kentucky Clinic.
Chief Joe Monroe said UK police worked with Lexington police to canvass the area and search for the bear. Officers couldn’t locate it, Monroe said.
It’s apparently not the first reported sighting.
Lexington police said the bear had been seen around town, and Lexington-Fayette Animal Control and Care said it had been reported in the area of Southland Drive.
Monroe said this is the first on-campus bear sighting he’s ever known of since he joined UKPD in 1994. He said they’ve had several reports of deer over the years. He said the department has been in contact with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife on what to do should the bear be sighted on campus any time soon.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife said it was contacted by UKPD Wednesday morning and had been working with local authorities to try to monitor any sightings, spokesman Kevin Kelly said. The department said in a statement that multiple reported sightings have come from Fayette and Jessamine counties in recent weeks.
John Hast, bear program coordinator, said the bear appeared to be younger, and was probably between 125 and 150 pounds. Hast said if anyone sees the bear, they should stay away and contact Fish and Wildlife. The department’s statement said black bears have a natural fear of people and hazardous encounters with people are uncommon, but approaching or feeding a bear can result in a “negative encounter.”
“Bear sighting in Lexington is extremely rare and highly uncommon,” Kelly said. But he added that younger bears “tend to go on walkabouts during the summer when they get pushed out of home range by older male bears, and they can go many many miles from their home range of Eastern Kentucky.”
He added that they often return to their home range in the fall, so the bear could just make a big loop around Central Kentucky.
The department has previously advised that Kentucky’s bear population has grown over the last 20 years thanks to forest growth. The department has also advised that feeding bears, intentionally or unintentionally, is illegal and punishable by fine.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 12:32 PM.