BY FRAIDY REISS
Correspondent
Lakewood LAKEWOOD — The geese must have been terrified.
A black bear that was spotted last week in Lakewood is believed to have splashed its way across Lake Carasaljo during its meandering, police Capt. Robert Lawson said.
The bear, which stood between 4 and 5 feet tall, was first seen on the morning of May 29 roaming the grounds of Georgian Court University, Lawson said, prompting the police department to call the state Division of Fish and Wildlife for advice.
“They said to leave it alone and let it wander around,” the captain said.
Lawson said he and several patrol officers tracked the bear on foot for an hour as it foraged for food in the heavily wooded areas of the university grounds. The animal appeared hungry but harmless, he said.
“It was afraid of people,” Lawson said. “If it was approached, it turned and ran away.”
Still, police passed out fliers later that morning to residents within a 1-mile radius of Georgian Court and broadcast a message on radio station WOBM warning Lakewood residents not to leave children outdoors unsupervised and to call police immediately if they encountered the animal.
Lakewood resident Yehoshua Ausfresser was among the crowd of people on North Lake Drive admiring the bear through the Georgian Court gates until its stocky build and ability to run convinced him to leave, he said.
“I would say it’s not a bear to play around with,” Ausfresser said.
The bear was sighted later on May 30 in the area of South Lake Drive and Carasaljo Drive, leading police to believe the animal enjoyed a swim in the lake on its trek across town, Lawson said.
The next reported sighting of the bear occurred on May 30 in the Hearthstone development off Massachusetts Avenue, and later that day across the avenue in the Fairways development, Lawson said.
A bear was then seen in Manchester on the morning of May 31 and Lawson said he is “99.9 percent sure” it is the same bear that toured Georgian Court and frolicked in Lake Carasaljo.
“Police have keeping tabs on it” since the bear was spotted in Howell, then Lakewood, Toms River and Manchester, the captain explained.
“So it has moved out of the area,” Lawson said. “It was looking for food and then it was on its own merry way.”