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BEDFORD HEIGHTS, OH (WOIO) –

The black bear that spent a majority of Tuesday up a tree in Bedford Heights is now on the run in Solon.

Around 10 a.m., the black bear was spotted on Brainard and Cannon Roads in Solon.

19 Action News viewer Matt Jordan was driving on Brainard when he saw the bear.

“I was just stopped at the stop sign, looked to see if anybody was coming and there’s a bear going across the street,” said Jordan. “You don’t see that everyday.”

“Did it scare you?” asked Reporter Brian Duffy.

“It didn’t scare me, but I knew he was in the area,” Jordan replied.

Officials are now monitoring the area.

This, after police in Bedford Heights spotted the black bear around 8 a.m. in the area of Cannon and Richmond. Officers lost sight of the six-foot animal a short time later.

The bear spent much of the day on Tuesday up a tree near the Rockside Park Towers on Rockside Road. Residents noticed the bear around 7:30 a.m., and immediately alerted police.

Wildlife experts from Ohio Department of Natural Resources were brought in, and suggested officials wait out the bear. They never planned to tranquilize the bear. They said because it takes ten minutes for a tranquilized bear to drop, and they were afraid of what a drugged bear would do. They claimed it was safer to wait the bear out. [Check out Black Bear Safety tips from ODNR]

Officials did try several other attempts to get the bear down from the tree, including spraying it several times with a fire hose. The plan backfired, and caused the bear to climb higher up the tree. Officials also had a big bear cage at the ready, and had also erected a fence around the trunk of the tree.

Finally, around 5:30 p.m., the bear came down on its own and ran off into a nearby wooded area.

http://www.19actionnews.com/story/19448943/black-bear-spotted-in-solon

Article Courtesy of WOIO 19 Action News

LOCAL: Bedford Bear Spotted in Solon  was originally published on wzakcleveland.com