PIKE COUNTY, Pa. — A woman in Pike County has a visitor she's not often used to having. The sow, also known as a female black bear, has decided to spend the winter underneath her deck.
"At the very end of December, very early into January, one of the Pike County officers got a call from the lady that said, 'Hey, I got a bear under my deck. Can you guys come to take a look?' So, he went over there, and sure enough, he determined that there was definitely a bear there. You can't miss it, but he can also, and at that point, already had seen one really, really small cub," said Game Warden Gerald Kapral.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has once again set up its black bear camera. You'll be able to see and hear the bear and her cubs 24/7.
"The more seclusion they have, the better off. So again, it's just one of those things where we have the opportunity to provide the insight into what actually goes on and to just witness the nature, the miracle that wildlife goes through."
Kapral says black bears are not true hibernators, so you'll see her stretch out from time to time and sometimes start to nibble on the deck above her to give her more space.
Kapral says we won't see her cubs just yet because she's protecting and nurturing them.
"They present no danger to the humans, especially the females with the cubs. She's not going to leave because if she leaves, then those cubs are going to perish."
Kapral says if you have a bear under your deck, just leave it alone.
"Certainly, they don't want to do anything to harsh it or disturb it because, again, they pose little to no threat to humans. We pose more of a threat to them at that point than they do to us."
The camera will be up till late March or early April when the bears leave the den.
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