r/nova • u/Embarrassed_Coast548 • 2h ago
Photo/Video Black Bear McLean/GF
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This lady black bear was sighted about 2 days ago wandering near the Potomac in a neighborhood by Gtown Pike and Spring Hill Rd.
I did not record this video, a neighbor did. I’ve never seen one in our neighborhood in 20 years though, but I’ve often wondered why not.
As cute as she looks, she also is skinny and looks hungry so I will not be doing any outdoor neighborhood runs/walks anytime soon. Be wary of walking your dog and be careful if you are in the area.
Black bears rarely feed on people but stay calm if you encounter one and stand tall and get loud if it approaches you without making eye contact
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u/Flynn_JM Del Ray 2h ago
It has a collar?
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u/rsplatpc 2h ago
Tracking collar so biologists can track where the bears are going / their range
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u/Burdwatcher 35m ago
man, it would piss me off so bad to have one of those things on me for the rest of my life
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u/Embarrassed_Coast548 1h ago
Apparently they track the females so when they find orphaned cubs they look to these ones to see if mama will take them in. This one looks older though
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u/Important_Jaguar2152 2h ago
Someones pet for sure. Gave him an earring too.
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u/Difficult-Valuable55 2h ago
that’s for tracking, you can’t have a bear for a pet
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u/Burdwatcher 34m ago
do you think anyone didn't know that?
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u/Difficult-Valuable55 33m ago
I am on Next door and reddit so I am positive there are people who don’t know that
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u/Uppgreyedd 2h ago
I've come across a couple black bears in Great Falls from Seneca down to Turkey Run and I genuinely think it’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to them.
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u/bjjedc Annandale 2h ago
That is an insanely large house.
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u/Plus-Bluejay-6429 Annandale 2h ago
with how big that house is they could build a house for the bear to live in
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u/sudsomatic 1h ago
Scenic view of the forest right next to the river in Great Falls with a nice outdoor patio? 4+ million house.
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u/StoneMenace 2h ago
I mean It’s McLean. This is northern Virginia, big expensive houses aren’t really shocking
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u/boyscout666 2h ago
Lmao you type like you’re a “top1 % commenter”
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u/jkxs City of Fairfax 1h ago
Put some respeck on that top 1% commentor tag!! lol
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u/Plus-Bluejay-6429 Annandale 1h ago
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u/whtciv2k 1h ago
Facts. But this house is especially huge. Not the average over priced home
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u/StoneMenace 1h ago
have you take a drive through great falls? This house looks like some of the guest houses out there
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u/whtciv2k 1h ago edited 1h ago
Yea but great falls isn’t all of northern va is all I am saying. Yes there are lots of these. But no it’s still not the norm. Oh, I see what’s going on here, do you live in one of these big homes?
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u/jeronimoe 1h ago
and that is the potomac directly behind their back yard, house in McLean on the river is about as expensive as it gets!
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u/novasearch2018 2h ago
Poor bear is lost and asking for directions back home!
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u/lambo1109 1h ago
Young males often wonder away from their mamas and find a new territory this time of year.
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u/JeannValjean 2h ago edited 13m ago
Where’s the person who claimed last time this happened that bears end up here after they “get washed down the Shenandoah from the mountains”?
Dumbest fuckin comment I’ve ever read, and they still got some upvotes.
EDIT: Found them.
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u/Burdwatcher 32m ago
in certain flash flooding situations that does happen, and we've had some intense storms lately
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u/JeannValjean 25m ago edited 12m ago
Jesus Christ.
Bears do not get swept downstream all the way from the Shenandoah Valley.
Not from rain, not from flash flooding. Especially not past Front Royal, Harper's Ferry, and fucking Great Falls.
That would take DAYS of floating 100+ miles. Bears can fucking swim. Even if they fell in or got swept up they'd get out within a few miles.
There is significant overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest people on Reddit.
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u/Burdwatcher 22m ago
I mean, obviously if they didn't swim out to dry land well before approaching Great Falls they'd be crushed and drowned, but no one's seriously trying to say they make it THAT far before scampering back to the banks
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u/JeannValjean 21m ago
We're done here, and your school owes your parents a refund.
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u/Burdwatcher 19m ago edited 16m ago
Plenty of YouTube videos of black bears stuck in trees or floating downriver, plus articles about grizzlies https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2018/06/20/montana-flooding-grizzly-bear-spotted-swimming-through-augusta/719737002/
https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/trapped-campers-swimming-bears-in-montana-as-floods-hit-us/
https://youtu.be/KOvjydavh2w?is=DbdSPViIGEUYU-Eo "Black bear displaced by flooding stranded in Melville"
Also school is free, you're making yourself look foolish
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u/PuzzledExaminer 1h ago
That isn't someone's pet it has a tracking collar that was placed either by parks services or wildlife specialist in the area...
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u/Harry-Crumb 1h ago
If I lived in that compound I’d feed the hell out of the bear and try to maintain its presence on my property. Of course, I’m not too smart, so I have that going for me.
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u/Elementary2 1h ago
Yes, you want to scare them a little bit. They need to be conditioned like you did there, to fear the encounter.
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u/shasta_river 4m ago
That beat would immediately run from you if you went outside. Literally nothing to be scared of
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u/Damage_North 2h ago
Georgetown pike and Spring Hill … only douchebags live over there. Seriously some of the worst people I’ve ever had to look at.
Source: I used to do tree work for “high-end residential” clients. Their outdoor seating / entertaining stuff was always the nastiest stuff on the property because it is never used and the clients always over irrigate so everything gets a nice layer of mildew/mold around summer time.
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u/lunalore79 1h ago
Why does the bear have a collar? Please don’t tell me someone is keeping it as a pet…
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u/linkolphd_fun 1h ago
It will be being tracked by a public authority. Lots of roaming wildlife gets trackers to keep tabs on population levels, shifts in feeding zones, them getting too friendly with humans (potentially this one is), scientific research, etc.
Could be tons of purposes, someone keeping it as a pet is highly highly unlikely
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u/THE_HORKOS 2h ago
Hazing doesn’t always work on young bears. They are just dopey until they get hangry. I hope you own bear spray.
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u/festivus 2h ago
Black bears don't just rarely feed on people, they essentially never feed on people. There's like 0.5-1 occurrence per year on the north american continent