A young black bear made itself at home in a treetop in a residential New Jersey neighborhood Monday, snoozing the day away while cops waited it out.
The 200-pound bear clambered up a tree near Sirianni Park in Paramus around 11 a.m., where it was still dozing about 20-feet off the ground — over a house — as of about 5:30 p.m., cops said.
“Basically we have a young bear that’s been chased down from the northern area by a larger male bear,” animal control officer Carol Tyler told NorthJersey.com. “We’re just trying to convince him to get to a less-populated area. Probably the golf course or the park.”
Animal control officers tried in vain to rouse the creature with noisemakers, but were ultimately forced to just grin and bear it while they waited for it to come down on its own.
Tyler said that once the bear moved closer to the ground, it could be tranquilized and caught with a net, but for now it was too high up in the tree.
“Our goal is to keep him away from injury,” Tyler said.
Tyler told NorthJersey.com that the bear was likely drawn into Paramus by the smell of food.
The bear was first spotted Sunday night running along Route 17, CBS 2 New York reported, citing animal control.