An adolescent black bear broke into an addition built onto an occupied Bisbee home Friday evening in a brief but dangerous run-in with the homeowner, officials say.
The break-in follows a βcluster of sightingsβ in the area through September, said Arizona Game and Fish Department public information officer Mark Hart. The department has been warning rural communities of bears beginning to βbulk upβ for the winter.
βThis is the first time amongst all these bear sightings one has done something inherently dangerous,β he said.
Hart gave the following account:
A Bisbee woman reported to police that a bear had entered the addition to her home in the 800 block of Tombstone Canyon Road about 11:30 p.m. Friday.
The woman had left her trash in the enclosed addition after a string of bear sightings in the nearby area. The bear got in through an open window.
Not knowing the intruder was there, the homeowner went into the addition, leading to the bear rearing up on its hind legs before exiting back through the window.
Bisbee police briefly located the bear in the area after responding to the home. A second bear sighting was reported to Arizona Game and Fish later in the evening at a different home in the area.
The black bear is likely an adolescent, too old to be a yearling but not fully matured.
The cluster of bear sightings in Bisbee are possibly from the same bear, Hart said.
Video captured outside a Bisbee home about 3:15 a.m. Friday and posted to Game and Fishβs official X account spotted what Hart believes to be the same bear in the sightings reported to the department later in the day.
Game and Fish officials have received reports of bears in rural communities around Sierra Vista and Hereford, as well.
Officials are asking homeowners throughout Bisbee to secure trash in enclosed areas, check backyards for fallen tree fruit and take down bird feeders that contain seed or honey bird nectar.
Hart asks that future bear sightings be reported to the Arizona Game and Fish Department hotline at (623) 236-7201.
If someone encounters a bear, he said, they should do their best to βhazeβ the bear away by making loud noises, waving their arms, clapping their hands or using air horns, if possible.
This is the first time a black bear has attempted to enter a building in southeast Arizona this year, Hart said. There was another instance in Prescott earlier this year which ended in the homeowner shooting the bear, he said.
The news comes about three months after an attack by a predatory black bear in Prescott, which resulted in the death of a 66-year-old Tucson man.
