Bear Sighting
The Ridgewood Police Department (RPD) has chased a bear up a tree on Highland Avenue. RPD is working with the NJ Department of Fish and Wildlife to handle this situation appropriately.
The current approach is to continue to station officers with the bear until nighttime when we will wait for the bear to descend from the tree. We have decided to wait until nighttime as the area is abuzz with barbecues and activity and do not want this to be disrupted. We will have an RPD unit monitor the bear’s location as best as possible going forward.
To resolve this incident, the most important thing residents in the area can do is not to have garbage out (this bear was in our community to eat) and to take bird feeders in.
Going forward as a community we need collectively to take measures to discourage bears from wandering into Ridgewood. It is really imperative that garbage is secured – rifling through the garbage to find food is the primary reason that bears come into residential neighborhoods. The existence of bird feeders is also a problem and attracts wildlife such as bears. More information on bears and what residents can do can be found at the NJ Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website – www.njfishandwildlife.com.
Best regards,
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
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it looks good , I would put that on my grill with a little sauce.
I wonder how much it cost the village to watch the bear.
great use of taxpayer dollars
over time for the police. I wonder how manny police came in on o t , hummmmmmm yeaaaahhhhh,