Bear spotted 8 miles from the White House

Residents of Kensington, Md., a tiny Beltway suburb, have a new and not particularly welcome neighbor: a bear.

Residents spotted the ursine visitor early this week, wandering around a neighborhood of million-dollar homes. Surveillance video pictured the bear sniffing trash cans. The community sits about 8 miles from the White House.

“It’s just been hanging around the neighborhood,” said Ian Velinsky, a local real estate agent who lives on Culver Street. “I’ve been here for a while, and it’s definitely not something that’s normal.”

Indeed, bear sightings are unusual in the inner suburbs of Washington. Fretful messages have flooded neighborhood forums. Dog owners are avoiding nocturnal walks. A local school has launched a bear watch.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources told the local NBC affiliate the black bear probably arrived in Kensington via Rock Creek, presumably from a more sparsely populated location farther north in Montgomery County. He advised residents to bring in their bird feeders.

Residents are surprised that no one from the county or state has swept in to usher the bear back to a more natural habitat, maybe up near Frederick, Md.: They’re used to bears.

“The response has been, ‘Best of luck to you,’” Velinsky said.

Jonathan Trudeau, a black bear specialist with the natural resources department, explained that his agency was monitoring the Beltway bear but would step in only if the animal became stuck, trapped in a strip mall parking lot, or otherwise disconnected from the forest whence it came.

“We don’t relocate bears,” he said.

Updated at 1:47 p.m.