Black Bear Sitting in Tree in Morris, Police Urge Onlookers to Stay Away

This town is about 25 miles from my house.

Here is a link for a video..

http://ksax.com/article/stories/s1534026.shtml

MORRIS, MINN. - On Tuesday evening, people in the city of Morris, Minn., were surprised to see an unusual visitor stuck up a tree in a local neighborhood.

As of Thursday morning, the bear was still sitting in the tree, and law enforcement continued to wait.

"We have a little excitement here in the city of Morris today. We have a black bear that's up a tree," Police Chief James Beauregard said.

Around 11:00 p.m. Tuesday, the Morris Police Department received a call from a concerned person that a black bear had climbed up a tree and was not coming down.

"We rode our bikes down to see the bear," Matthew Steen said.

But Steen was not the only one to come out and see the bear.

"I went right over there under the tree and took some pictures," Sarah Esse said.

Police believe the bear is scared and waiting for people leave the area.

"It naturally gets attention, but people coming around it is the worst thing for the bear," Chief Beauregard said.

The bear climbed a tree on Oregon and 9th street after being startled by a car.

As of 10:00 p.m. Wednesday evening, the bear was still at the same location. At one point there were more than 200 people looking at the bear.

"He's a celebrity. We must have had about 200 to 300 people out here already just looking at him," Steen said.

In just one day some in the community have grown attached to the bear.

"We call it Fluffy," Jose Spears said.

Several people took pictures of "Fluffy" in the tree.

"A lot of us were taking pictures. We need it for proof that it was here," Esse said.

Law enforcement said something like this hasn't happened in Morris for years.

"Not in this town. I've seen moose and deer. That's about it. This is the first time we've seen a bear in a tree," Steen said.

"We are urging everyone to stay out of the area," Beauregard said. "The bear is not posing a threat to anyone, we just don't want anyone else scaring him."

Local law enforcement began barricading the area and it could take as long as three days to get the bear out of the tree authorities said.

"It's not unusual for them to stay in a tree for a few days if they feel they are in danger," Beauregard said.

The Morris City Manager and Minnesota State Patrol assisted the Morris Police Department.

Stay with KSAX-TV for updates.

Written for the web by: Emily Deem, Megan Matthews and Anthony Kiekow

I'm sure that he/she was scared shitless from all the people looking on. I hope for its safe return out of the tree!~!

Well for one thing it isn't normal for bears to be around here, this bear had to have wondered over a 100 miles for he/she to be here. We get one that comes around here at least every other year and most are of big size, other wise they are not normal around this area.

We even get a moose every now and then and they have to travel much much farther like 250 to 300 miles.

Mountain lions we had one of those a couple years ago and they have to travel about as far as the moose.

I guess they are getting crowded out of there homes so they have to go some were.