Was There a Bear Sighting in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey?

At first, this seemed a bit far fetched to me. We have lived in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey for almost 30 years.

Until yesterday, I had never heard of a bear sighting in Egg Harbor Township.

However, I have heard of bear sightings in Mays Landing … just one township away.

This makes it not very far fetched at all.

Thanks to Jay HP, his screen name on Facebook and his post on the very well done Original Egg Harbor Township Area Happenings 08234 Facebook page.

This is where I learned about a possible bear sighting in the north Tremont section of Egg Harbor Township.

Jay HP’s post has generated almost 400 points of contact on this one post.

Jay HP wrote the following:

Hey folks, just a heads up. We were out in the yard with the dogs this morning and our two youngest started tracking a scent. While investigating we came across some bear tracks. They're about 6.5-7 inches across. We're on the north end of Tremont.

This set off a flurry of comments. Most were serious in nature … along with a few that were humorous … featuring a few comments and photos about Sasquatch and other funny memes, etc.

Here is another look at Jay HP’s photo so that you can see what you think (see below):

I can easily see why Jay HP thinks it may be a bear paw print. It’s reasonable to me.

Here are several of the hundreds of comments that Jay HP’s post generated:

Terry Green- Downs Wrote, “OMGsh, my hubby came home from work at 2:45 am Thurs. morning and he was putting out the trash for later that day when he heard some kind of growling and moaning sounds in the woods across from where we live near Tremont. Wow.”

Sharon Lea Scarella, “They roam harmless if not poked.”

Kathleen Collins, “We have a large wooded property, backing up to the Great Egg Harbor River. We have never seen a bear...or seen evidence of a bear in all the 12 years that we've had this property. This always seemed odd to me, because there are supposed to be bears in all parts of NJ. We have coyotes, Fox, raccoons, snakes, deer, skunks, and opposums...and we've seen all of them... but never a bear.”

Jean Gibboni, “Why does anyone think this is so far fetched. Bear spotted in Mays Landing several times and on the news.”

That’s exactly right Jean.

JJ Bauer, “It's only a bear relax everyone not like he or she's gonna break into your house.”

Brian Demarco Jr., “it's what the conservation does. Once they get some many complaints of this bear or multiple bears they will relocate it someone else in the state. And the circle continues on and so forth.”

Marcilena Link - Mosley, “Thave mastiffs that once prints where we walked in Mays Landing/Estelle woods, was posted as bears, found to just be my dog's. I had pics of my own to show from that day & we got a good laugh. Although yes I know we have bears, coyotes, etc here. With the mass amount of tress aka their neighborhoods get cleared out to build more & more instead of using all the dilapidated space around.....these animals have to go somewhere. Scariest part of this, they become more domesticated and not fearful of humans.”

Laina Bradford, “Keep building and they have nowhere else to go except our neighborhood's!”

Michael Brown posted this photo of a bear sighting. However, there is no context as to where this photo was taken (see below):

Many times when you see a post like this … it goes sideways really fast.

This did not. The comments were mostly thoughtful and intelligent.

Keep your eyes open. Bear(s) may have come to Egg Harbor Township.