Over the weekend, residents of New Jersey’s most densely populated county welcomed an unexpected visitor: a black bear weighing roughly 300 pounds.
The bear seemed to begin its Hudson County travels on Saturday at a Kearny Wawa before it headed into Harrison, with sightings occurring near Red Bull Arena and later on a roof at Cleveland and Passaic avenues.
It surfaced again on Monday, when police officers corralled it in a backyard in Kearny where it snoozed in a tree.
Bears have been been spotted in Hudson County before, according to news reports and state Division of Fish and Wildlife records. But in this heavily urbanized part of the state, just miles from New York City, a visit from a bear is an extremely rare occurrence — and for many, the first in living memory.
“It’s a first for me,” said Harrison Mayor James Fife. “I’ve been here since ’66. I never heard of a bear in Harrison before.”
Kearny Mayor Al Santos, who has lived in the West Hudson town since 1979, said the same.
“This is the first time that a bear — that I know of — has been in this area,” he said.
But the question remains: how did it get here?
Santos guessed the bear had crossed into Kearny from Newark using the Boonton Line, a defunct NJ Transit rail line slated to be converted into the Hudson-Essex Greenway.
“The deer do that too,” he said. “They just get lost or go for a trip and they don’t know when to stop.”
Brooke Maslo, an assistant professor of ecology at Rutgers, said that competition with rivals likely drove the bear into Hudson County.
“The black bear population in New Jersey is quite healthy in the northwest portion of the state,” Maslo said in an email. “Because of the density of bears in that area, some bears (typically juvenile males) will disperse from the area to set up their own territories. Bears are not deliberately seeking out urbanized areas. Rather, they are escaping competition for resources within their natal range."
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, suggested that the state’s bear hunt, which began Monday morning, may have frightened the animal out of its normal habitat, he said. But he noted that long journeys are not unusual for black bears, which can travel hundreds of miles in search of food.
To see a bear in an urban area is "unusual, but it’s not unheard of,” he said.
A state Division of Fish and Wildlife map showing where bears have been spotted in New Jersey has Jersey City highlighted, along with hundreds of other municipalities. It’s unclear when one was last seen in Hudson.
Over the weekend, the wild animal commanded attention on social media and drew residents hoping for a glimpse. On Monday, despite Kearny Police Department warnings to stay indoors, residents of the West Hudson town flocked to the intersection of Webster and Madison avenues in an attempt to spot the animal. Photos from the site show the bear snoozing in a tree.
The Kearny Police Department said Monday evening that a state Fish and Wildlife representative came to the scene, but did not recommend tranquilizing or trapping the bear. Lawrence Hajna, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, said in an email that officials had decided not to interfere and to let the animal leave on its own.
“The DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife advised local authorities to give the bear that has been sighted in the Kearny and Harrison areas an opportunity to find suitable habitat on its own, in accordance with policy,” Hajna said. “An evaluation made late yesterday determined the bear should be given an opportunity to follow wooded corridors to more suitable habitat.”
The bear appeared to have left Hudson County later that night. North Arlington residents spotted the animal near the Belleville Turnpike, and North Arlington police advised residents against approaching the animal.
Mayor Santos wished the animal safe travels and hoped it enjoyed its stay in Kearny.
“He took a nap, he relaxed, he was safe,” Santos said. “We did our part.”