Rare black bear sighting in Erin, Ont., prompts safety warning from police

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 17, 2025 2:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

A tiny achromatic carnivore has been spotted successful Erin, Ont., prompting a informing from police.

Wellington County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said they received a study of the carnivore successful a residential country of the municipality connected Wednesday astir 9 p.m. ET.

The carnivore was seen connected properties successful the country of Pine Ridge Road. 

"According to immoderate of the residents, a mates of the vertebrate feeders were knocked over, which are a communal people for bears," Const. Kirk MacDonald told CBC News.

A witnesser shared images of the carnivore with police.

Police accidental radical should enactment distant from the carnivore and if it appears to airs an contiguous menace to the nationalist done threatening oregon assertive behaviour, past telephone 911.

For non-emergency encounters, radical tin call the province's Bear Wise reporting enactment astatine 1-866-514-2327.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources besides shares tips for radical who brushwood a bear:

• Slowly backmost distant portion keeping the carnivore successful show and hold for it to leave.
• Throw objects astatine the bear, question your arms and marque sound to marque the carnivore leave.
• Have carnivore spray connected hand.
• Go wrong a gathering oregon vehicle.
• Drop immoderate nutrient you whitethorn beryllium carrying.
• Leave the carnivore unsocial if its successful a tree. It volition permission the histrion connected its ain erstwhile it feels safe.
• Keep dogs connected a leash.
• Don't run, climb a histrion oregon aquatics away.
• Don't marque nonstop oculus contact.
• Don't effort to provender the bear.
• Don't play dormant unless you are attacked by a parent carnivore defending her cubs.

The ministry's achromatic carnivore representation shows it's uncommon for achromatic bears to travel into confederate Ontario

Sightings hap 'from clip to time'

MacDonald said portion it's not a communal sighting, it's not unheard of for a carnivore to beryllium seen successful Wellington County. 

"It does hap from clip to time. We bash get calls usually successful the outpouring and mostly from the images and statement of these bears — they're what are described arsenic yearling bears and that means that they're nary longer a cub, but they're not rather a full-grown adult."

At that age, the bears caput retired connected their own and spell successful hunt of food, and sometimes that means they grow the territory they mightiness usually beryllium in.

"It's not excessively antithetic that bears travel down forested corridors from either the cottage state country oregon the Bruce Peninsula, which a batch of radical are alert that determination is rather a important carnivore colonisation [there]," helium said.

"Usually they're harmless. They're conscionable seeking nutrient sources. But we enactment this retired determination much arsenic an consciousness for people, for their safety. And besides we don't privation immoderate indispensable harm to travel to animals too. They usually determination on."

He said constabulary and the ministry urge people not permission things extracurricular that whitethorn pull bears.

"If determination is bears spotted successful the area, for example, they emotion vertebrate feeders, they emotion garbage that whitethorn beryllium exposed," helium said. 

"Just support successful caput they are chaotic animals. They volition not spell aft humans.

"You whitethorn spot a young bear, and deliberation it's cute and benignant of get up for the selfies and the close-ups, but conscionable beryllium cognizant that determination could beryllium an big carnivore astir that is protective of the young one," said MacDonald. "And that's wherever radical could get themselves into trouble. But fortunately, carnivore attacks connected humans are highly uncommon circumstances."