Police Believe Reported Bear Sighting In Dothan Unfounded

A bear is a bear unless it is a dog. 

Dothan Police believe what was seen Tuesday morning was actually a canine and not a black bear as believed by the person who alerted officers. 

"We went into a freshly-plowed field where a person thought they saw a bear," said Sgt. Adrienne Woodruff who oversees Animal Control for the police department.  "We found tracks appearing to be those of a dog."   Woodruff said it's now believed a large black dog had recently been dropped off in the area of Webb and Omussee Roads where officers were summoned.

Concerns over bears are on the rise since one was struck by a car last week in Geneva.  Black bears are more plentiful in the Florida panhandle but are known to ramble around south Alabama.

Woodruff said bears are like most other animals---usually they will run away from humans.  However, she said nobody should ever approach wild animals.  She said the police department always welcomes phone calls if people are concerned about wild animals.

Here's some information on black bears from Wikipedia.com. 

 The (North) American black bear (Ursus americanus) is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in search of food. Sometimes they become attracted to human communities because of the immediate availability of food. The American black bear is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern, due to the species' widespread distribution and a large global population estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined. American black bears often mark trees using their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to many species of bears.