FORT PAYNE, Ala. (WHNT) — “It was basically in my driveway!” That’s what one woman said about a large black bear she captured on video near her Fort Payne home.
Amanda Fortner Mitchell, a woman who lives in the Lookout Mountain area of Fort Payne, said the bear appeared while she was gardening and taking grass clippings to her dumpster. She said her cat was making strange noises, which alerted her to the bear’s presence.
“I heard some leaves rustling in the woods next to the house, but I dismissed it as a squirrel or a bird,” Mitchell told News 19. “When I walked around my vehicle to the trash can, it was standing there at the edge of the woods. .”
Mitchell said the bear was about 20 meters from where she was standing.
Once she realized that the bear was not approaching her, she began recording. The full video of her experience with the bear can be seen here:
Mitchell said her husband has hunting land in the area that has taken many bears over the past year.
She said her hunting ground is several miles away in the community of Fischer, stating that “we were surprised to see one on this side of Highway 35…within city limits.”
Earlier this year, News 19 reported that state officials from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources had been tracking a trio of black bear cubs in northeast Alabama. The pups were initially located near Mentone and teams fitted collars with embedded passive transponders. The collar expands as the bear grows.
The state estimated that between 30 and 35 bears live in northeast Alabama.