A black bear was spotted Friday afternoon near a house on Gilman Avenue, the second sighting in the area in as many days.
Marietta Police Officer Braden Wenzel and Washington County Dog Warden Greg Sturm responded around 3 p.m. to the scene, just north of the Washington Street Bridge.
"We've dealt with four or five bears over the last 10 years," Wenzel said. "Several years ago a small one was found up a tree in Mound Cemetery. It was about 200 pounds."
Sturm said he saw the bear after it left the Gilman Avenue property, lumbering along the CSX tracks toward Leland Avenue.
"He was just taking his time," Sturm said. "A train came through and he just stepped aside, then went up into the bushes (on the west side of the tracks).
"We've had two or three reports of bear sightings so far this year," Sturm said. "There was another in the Little Hocking area this summer."
He said people who encounter a bear should always stay back and keep their distance from the animal. Black bears are normally shy and avoid contact with humans.
"We don't want to harm the bear - the best thing would be to tranquilize him and move him out of the area," Sturm said.
The animal did not reappear Friday afternoon.
Another bear, possibly the same animal, was also spotted in the Harmar area in June.
It's likely the bear seen Friday was the same one Leland Avenue resident Linda Mankins caught sight of Thursday evening.
Mankins had just walked onto her front porch overlooking Gilman Avenue and the CSX railroad tracks Thursday evening when something caught her eye.
"I thought it was a big black dog at first, then I realized there was a black bear on the railroad tracks," she said.
Mankins yelled for her next-door neighbor, Randall Wilson.
"At first the bear left the tracks and headed over the embankment toward Gilman Avenue, but after I hollered he came back up to the tracks," Mankins said.
Wilson came out just in time to see the bruin making its way through the side yard of a nearby vacant home at 1001 Gilman Ave.
"It was a beautiful animal," Wilson said. "People have been seeing it around here for a couple of months now."
He said Ohio Department of Natural Resources Officer Eric Bear had spent most of Thursday evening looking for the animal with no luck.
But the bear returned to the neighborhood later Thursday night, according to Mankins.
"It was around 10:15, and our dogs began barking," she said. "My husband, DeWayne, went out back and turned on the spot light. He saw the bear again for a few seconds, then it walked into the woods."
Anyone who spots a black bear in the area is asked to leave the animal alone and call local wildlife officers at (740) 589-9998.
