Bear sighted in north Gainesville

GAINESVILLE - A bear sighting on the busy northside of Gainesville Thursday - not once, but twice.

Police got the first call early Thursday.

Lt. Keith Lingerfelt says the caller reported a bear in the Green Street Circle area. He says the first units spotted the bear on the front lawn of the First Baptist Church, a few blocks from where the caller reported seeing it.

Officers with the state Department of Natural Resources were called and the bear was last seen about noon heading into a kudzu-filled ravine in an area behind the church around Forrest Avenue.

It was the second reported bear sighting in the Gainesville area in a week. Last week, a resident of Spring Haven Drive in west Gainesville reported spotted one.

That sighting came just a couple of weeks after an adult bear and a cub were reported in the Chattahoochee Country Club area north of town. (See earlier story.)