Hibernating Bear in Vacant Home Awakens, Gets Chased Outdoors

A bear found taking its winter's nap in the unsealed crawl space beneath an uninhabited Indian Trail home  last week is back in the great outdoors. On Wednesday, a state wildlife biologist arrived and harassed the approximately 350-pound animal until it fled the building, the Daily Record reported. 

The home in question was vacant and set to go onto the real estate market. A person hired by the realtor to clean the home and prepare it to be sold went to the home to work last week and saw something that appeared to be a bear sleeping in the crawl space under the house. Hopatcong Borough Police was called to the scene and determined that the creature indeed was a bear. Police contacted the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife and were told a representative would come after the weekend to get the bear out of the house.

Senior Wildilife Biologist Mike Madonia arrived at the residence Wednesday morning and found the bruin fast asleep in the crawl space. According to the article, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Larry Ragonese said the bear dug a depression in the ground, created a bed of sorts inside the depression with insulation some of the home's insulation and went to sleep. Madonia made loud noises and tossed pebbles at the animal, which woke up and became so annoyed by the ruckus that it made a hasty retreat outdoors.

DEP representatives informed the realtor that the crawl space needed to be sealed to keep animals out, the article continued, adding that similar cases in Sussex Borough, Branchville and Vernon also were on the department's to-do list for Wednesday.