Bear sightings reported near Belleville, Illinois conservation police officer says
A black bear was seen roaming in St. Clair County Monday off Illinois 157 in the former Centreville area and in or near the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, a state conservation police officer said.
The St. Clair County sightings on Monday followed multiple sightings in Monroe County on Sunday.
This bear is a male that likely swam across the Mississippi River from Missouri, which has a growing and established bear population, according to Illinois Conservation Police Officer Don Schachner.
Schachner said it is likely that this bear is different from the one seen in Pope, Saline, Williamson and Jackson counties in southern Illinois throughout July. A Kentucky wildlife official believes that bear arrived in Illinois by swimming across the Ohio River from Kentucky and likely crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri at the end of July.
With the latest bear sightings on Sunday and Monday in the heavily populated metro-east, Schachner asks residents to stay away from the bear and don’t feed it.
“The best message to get out to the public is to give him his space,” Schachner said. “People have the tendency to gravitate to the bear and crowd the bear.”
Schachner recommends residents to “just hang back, stay in the house, stay on the porch and let the bear do this thing. He’ll move out of town relatively quickly, because they cover so much ground.”
Schachner said he encountered dozens of people trying to see the bear or get it to disperse in Monroe County Sunday.
He said he asked people if they like the bear and everyone he met said yes. Here’s what he then told them:
“If you like the bear and you want what’s best for the bear, the best thing is to give it its space, back away, don’t crowd it. Don’t stress it out. Don’t make it feel threatened.”
The bear sightings in southern Illinois this summer follow sightings in 2021 when a bear was seen in Monroe, Clinton, Washington and Franklin counties and another one was seen in Randolph County in June 2023.
The Missouri Department of Conservation has reported there are about 900 bears in Missouri and a bear hunting season was established in 2021. This year’s season is scheduled for Oct. 21-30.
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