03-05-2025
Black bear sighted in Saybrook
SAYBROOK — A black bear was caught on camera as it wandered into the yard of a Saybrook home Wednesday night.
Joe Yankie, who resides in the home, said the bear wandered into the yard a little after 9 p.m. walking right by the family's master bedroom window, roughly a half hour after Yankie and his family went inside.
Yankie said he saw the footage the next day.
'It was really cool to see,' Yankie said.
The camera caught the bear heading toward the Saint John School tennis courts, Yankie said.
He reached out to Saint John School after seeing the footage to warn them about the bear, he said.
'They were very happy about knowing that,' he said. 'They're going to be on the lookout.'
Saint John School President Sister Maureen Burke said the school alerted staff to the bear sighting as soon as Yankie reached out to them.
'We're grateful that [Yankie] did that,' she said.
Burke said school staff will keep an eye out.
No students were at the tennis courts at the time of the bear sighting, and no damage was found on school property, she said.
School maintenance staff, who usually depart around 9:30 p.m., did not see anything, Burke said.
Ashtabula County Game Warden Joshua Quail said black bears are the smallest of the three bear species in North America.
'They're also the most timid bear,' he said.
Quail said if people encounter a black bear in-person, they should make a lot of noise, make themselves appear larger and move away from it.
Any trash should be secured in a container, Quail said, and trash bags should not be left by the street.
'That's ripe pickings for a bear,' he said.
Sightings of black bears have become more common in northeast Ohio, Quail said.
'It does show that conservation efforts in the state of Ohio have been effective,' he said.
Studies are being done to determine how many black bears reside in the county, he said.
'At this moment, it is unclear,' he said.
It used to be thought black bears came to Ashtabula County from Pennsylvania from spring to autumn, but Quail said recent sightings have cast doubts on that.
'We are starting to get confirmed sightings of female black bears with cubs,' he said.
Mother black bears do not typically move far from where they reside to raise cubs, he said.
They are also typically the most dangerous, because of how protective they are of their cubs, Quail said.
Quail had advice if people run into a black bear cub in-person.
'Leave it alone,' he said.
Mother bears rarely stray far from their cubs, Quail said.
County residents can report bear sighings to 1-800-WILDLIFE or by going to the Ohio Department of Natural Resource's Wildlife Reporting System, available on its website.
Quail said people can submit information on where the sighting was, along with photos and videos.
