Video: Black bear spotted near Mountain Island Lake

A video of a black bear running down a street in north Charlotte near Mountain Island Lake is getting attention online.

Sandra Tuck said she was leaving her grandmother's home on Kennewick Street on Wednesday when she took the video. She then posted it to Facebook. By 2 p.m. Thursday, the post had been viewed 3,400 times.

“I have never seen a bear, at all. Never seen a bear that close,” said Tuck. “It was a big amazement to see, especially out here. The city is so close, you know?”

The video shows a smaller black bear running down the street in front of Tuck's car. The bear then leaves the roadway for greener pastures before the video ends.

“I was not that scared. I knew I was safe in my car. I even rolled my window down and said, ‘Hi little bear,' " said Tuck.

Tuck said she thought the bear may have been a juvenile and with residents' animals in the area, she was a bit worried a mother bear may be nearby. However, experts say that is unlikely.

“We would reasonably assume the bear we have seen, and in Huntersville, is a male looking for mate,” said Chris Matthews, the Division Director of Nature Preserves, Natural Resources, and Park and Recreation for Mecklenburg County. “Since most of the time bears in this area are young males we do not have to worry about mother bears with their cubs.”

There were also reports of bear sightings in Iredell county and in Huntersville.

“It is becoming more common to see bears in the Charlotte area,” said Matthews. “As people develop and neighborhoods good built, the forests get cut down and the bears have nowhere to go.”

Matthews says it is best to let the bears be, do not feed them, and make sure your trash is put away.

This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Video: Black bear spotted near Mountain Island Lake."