Wandering Buford bear takes a liking to back yard

Another metro Atlanta bear sighting – this time in a Buford subdivision. A few neighbors in the subdivision reported seeing the bear moseying down the street during his visit in Buford, but he certainly took a liking to one particular yard.

Another metro Atlanta bear sighting – this time in a Buford subdivision.

A few neighbors in the subdivision reported seeing the bear moseying down the street during his visit in Buford, but he certainly took a liking to one particular yard.

The nearly 300-pound black bear made his way into the backyard of Bruce Zavitz’s home, and just parked there.

“He just showed up,” Zavitz said.

Zavitz says he is not sure if it was the lure of his tomatoes or the tiny cub hanging on his porch, but the black bear seemed to like his yard and just stopped there.

“I called the local police, and they said ‘We don’t handle bears, call DNR,’ so I called DNR – and they said, leave it alone and it will go away,” he said.

The bear bypassed the cherry tomatoes in his yard and wrapped his paws around the bird feeder, not letting go until the feeder was broken and all the seeds were in his belly.

This is not the first bear sighting in metro Atlanta this summer. Other bears have shown up in Buckhead, Norcross, and one even took a romp through a Roswell cemetery.

According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, there are three main bear populations in Georgia, mostly living in the northern mountains.

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Officials say this is the peak time for bear sightings. They say the bears are often teenage males that have been kicked out by their mothers and are now in search of their own territory.

Sometimes, they travel too far south. In the past month, two had to be trapped and taken back to north Georgia.

The Buford bear felt so at home in Zavitz’s yard that he spent the night there.

“(He) showed up at about 11:00 at night and left around 9:00 in the morning,” he said.

He overstayed his welcome once, but Zavitz says he shouldn’t make it a habit.

“Don’t take up residence here,” he said. “This isn’t really a good area for bears.”

The DNR says they haven’t noticed an increase in the Georgia bear population. It remains at about 5,100. The just think more people have taken notice because of social media.

► PHOTOS | Bear sighted in Buckhead