Caught on camera: Black bear pays visit to Hickory neighborhood

HICKORY, N.C. — A black bear was running wild through neighbors’ yards in Hickory Tuesday night. Channel 9′s Dave Faherty said some of his neighbors called him shortly before 11 p.m. about a bear across the street from his home.

The bear could be seen repeatedly toying with bird feeders at several homes on Zion Church Road.

Dave said the bear seemed more interested in the seed than the people who had gathered in their backyards.

Black bear takes advantage of empty streets in downtown Asheville

Neighbor Josh Gragg took cellphone video, but from a safe distance.

“I was like, ‘Oh crap, I think that’s a bear,’ but I just kept convincing myself that it wasn’t. It’s really unusual to see them around here. Usually, they’re up in the mountains," Gragg said.

Wildlife officers asked neighbors to take down their bird feeders, secure their trash cans, and to not leave any dog food outside.

Officials said they believe the bear is about a year old, weighing about 125 pounds and will hopefully leave when it can’t get an easy meal.

Earlier this week, possibly the same bear was also spotted 2 miles away on Finger Bridge Road, where another bird feeder was damaged.

Neighbor Peyton Hemphill has never seen a bear before this close to his home.

“We have kids all the time around here riding bikes like that. If this happened during the day, it would be pretty scary, but I’m glad it happened at night," Hemphill said.

Another neighbor said she emptied out her bird feeders Wednesday morning after learning about her late-night visitor.