Roads blocked while mama bear and cubs take long nap in tree, Virginia photo shows
A mama black bear and her three cubs found the perfect spot to squeeze in a day’s worth of napping.
They were spotted in a tree in a neighborhood near Western Branch High School in Chesapeake on Dec. 27, according to a photo shared by Chesapeake Animal Services on Facebook.
Leo Kosinski with Chesapeake police told The Virginian-Pilot that dispatchers were first notified of a possible bear sighting around 2 a.m. in a residential neighborhood on Bruin Drive. Later that morning, the four bears were seen snoozing in a tree.
That’s when officials in Virginia blocked off roads near the bears “to give them space and encourage them to move along,” the animal services agency said.
“While bears are beautiful to look at, it is extremely important for people to stay away from them,” according to the agency.
Mama black bears, especially, “can be unpredictable” when their cubs are around, animal services said.
Female black bears range from 50 to 75 inches in length and can weigh between 90 to 175 pounds, according to The International Association for Bear Research and Management. At birth, cubs can weigh 7 to 11 ounces.
Luckily, the bear family left the tree without any help from wildlife officials around 12 a.m. on Dec. 28.
Chesapeake is about 105 miles southeast of Richmond.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Roads blocked while mama bear and cubs take long nap in tree, Virginia photo shows."
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