Large Black Bear Spotted Charging at Shoppers at Conn. Mall Parking Lot – ryan

• Shoppers caught sight of a bear in a tree at Westfarms Mall in West Hartford, Conn., on Friday, April 11.
• Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) officers responded and attempted to get the bear down safely and out of the area.
• This comes as bear sightings in the state have risen in the last few years, according to Elise Bouthillier with DEEP.

Several shoppers “bear-ed witness” to a wild animal sighting at a Connecticut mall.

Visitors to Westfarms Mall in West Hartford, Conn., caught sight of a big black bear in a nearby tree and running across the mall’s parking lot on Friday, April 11, according to ABC News, NBC Connecticut, and Connecticut Insider.

“That’s pretty crazy. I haven’t seen a bear in a really long time. Normally, they’re not like at the mall,” one Westfarms Mall shopper, Brenda Morgan, told NBC Connecticut.

Onlookers initially spotted the climbing a tree by the Macy’s entrance at the shopping center, prompting a response from the state’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), which sent officials to remove the bear safely, according to the Connecticut Insider.

Footage shared by the outlet shows DEEP officers coaxing the bear to climb down from the tree. After the bear reached the ground, it charged away from officers in the parking lot surrounding the mall.

Another video, captured by bystander Camille M. Conover and shared with Storyful, shows the bear sprinting across the parking lot toward a Macy’s store. Nearby shoppers at the entrance run away in shock before another officer—and several others behind them—chase the animal off into the woods. A woman exclaims in the background, “Oh my god!”

A spokesperson with the agency told ABC News that it responded to reports of a bear in a tree and noted that their main goal was to get the animal to safety. They told the outlet that DEEP officers tried encouraging the bear to come down by shooting a paintball gun at the tree.

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When that failed, they tapped the tree with a stick, which eventually caused the creature to jump down and flee from the tree. The officers chased the bear into an open wooded area.

“Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) Environmental Conservation Police and Wildlife Division personnel responded to report of a bear in a tree near Westfarms Mall Friday afternoon. Upon arrival, staff located a yearling bear in a tree. Staff were successful in getting the bear to move on to woods nearby,” DEEP shared in a statement to PEOPLE.

“It’s much safer there,” Elise Bouthillier, a DEEP public information officer, told NBC Connecticut. “If it should come down on its own later tonight — gotten into the road, gotten onto (Highway) 84 — it would have just been a much worse outcome for the bear.”

The spokesperson shared with Storyful that they believed the bear may have been around 1-2 years old. It likely emerged from hibernation and was looking for food, which led it to the area.

Bouthillier told NBC Connecticut that this mall sighting comes as bear sightings have risen in the state in the last few years. She noted that 67 bears entered homes last year, the highest number Connecticut has seen in the past ten years.

“Last summer was incredibly busy for our officers, especially those in the northwest corner,” she said. “We’re starting to see them cross the Connecticut River and come more east, so they are spreading out.”

“They are used to people. They associate, you know, people with dumpsters and dumpsters with food, and they want the easy food,” she added.

Bouthillier recommended that residents in the state properly dispose of food and not leave dumpsters out. She also suggested that if residents spot a bear in their yard, they scare it off by making loud noises.

“We need to try to teach them that they don’t want to be around people,” Bouthillier said.