Bear wanders into downtown Hartford

By Rob Polansky, Ayah Galal

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    HARTFORD, Connecticut (WFSB) — A young bear found its way into a part of downtown Hartford on Friday afternoon.

The bear was spotted on Albany Avenue around 1 p.m.

Shortly afterward, it entered the backyard of a home on Chestnut Street.

That is where it climbed into a tree where it stayed for hours, less than half a mile from Dunkin’ Park.

Hartford Police, animal control, DEEP, and EnCon Police were all on the scene.

Residents who live in the area were surprised to see the young bear. Neighbors stuck around to watch and take pictures.

“He was right there, nice beautiful bear. And then somehow, all these people came out and *woop* into the trees. And it’s been there for a while,” said Roberto Perez.

“I was in my room just chilling, and then I heard my name, ‘George, George, there’s a bear out in the back.’ So I ran out in the back, and sure enough, there’s a bear out back right in the trees. So I took my little pictures. It was very strange though because you don’t see bears in this neighborhood,” added George Williams.

The general protocol for DEEP is to try to have the bear come down on its own.

Tranquilization is another tool DEEP will use if necessary.

DEEP confirmed the bear was tranquilized and safely taken down from the tree at around 7 p.m.

“The bear has since woken up and been released into native habitat outside the city,” DEEP said.

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