A Pace Emergency Alert was sent out this past Saturday alerting the community to a black bear sighting in the wooded area between Entrances 2 and 3 to the university. Those who encountered it were cautioned not to approach the animal, and call Pace Security. The Mount Pleasant Police were notified and on the scene shortly after.  

“I was pulling into the security booth and saw the Mount Pleasant Police and animal control pulling in behind me to locate the bear”, said Vanithy Carcamo, a graduate student at Pace.  

The bear had been spotted in various parts of Pleasantville that day, with the Pace University being one of its many stops.   

I spoke to Jacob Reiter, manager of the Conservation Center on campus. He explained the bear was likely experiencing hyperphagia, meaning a great desire for food, before it enters torpor, an involuntary form of hibernation.   

“This usually causes any animal in particular to venture outside of their normal home range,” Reiter explained. “After they eat everything in their normal area, they have to go out somewhere else to find more food. That’s likely how this bear ended up in our immediate area.”  

He goes on to explain that while bears often move through Westchester, it is rare that they end up near or on college campuses. Though, it does not mean that the bear was lost.  

“It knows where it’s going,” said Reiter. “It’s moving through areas that it knows, but it might decide to check out a different area and end up in a neighborhood or college campus. It’s a natural movement that they do, but they’re not always intersecting with people-populated areas.”  

A few videos of the bear were posted by members of a Pleasantville Facebook group. One video showed the bear on Cooley Street, and another on Thomas Street. Other residents saw the bear near Wood & Fire, a pizza place on Marble Avenue. At one point, the bear had made its way behind the nearby 7-Eleven and along the Saw Mill Parkway tree line of the Northbound lane.   

The next day, the official Pleasantville Website released a news flash stating the bear was “safely tranquilized, secured, and is being relocated to a more suitable habitat.” They thanked the local police departments for their assistance in capturing the bear, as well as the state Department of Environmental Conservation, who the town had handed the bear off to.  

When encountering a black bear, it is important to make yourself appear larger, and make loud noises if you have to.   

“Unless you encounter a mother bear with cubs, any other bear’s instinct is going to be to turn away from you,” said Reiter. “They don’t know that you’re not a potential predator.”  

“A black bear sighting reminds us that out campus is part of a much larger living ecosystem,” said Michelle Land, a professor in the Environmental Studies and Science department and director of the Animal Policy Project. “The best way to keep both people and wildlife safe is to observe from a distance, secure food and garbage, and allow the bear to move on undisturbed. Protecting individual animals like this bear is essential to protecting biodiversity itself and it starts with simple, informed coexistence.”