'Spooked' bear spotted in Steinbach

A wandering black bear decided it was worth the trip to Steinbach.

The bear was spotted climbing trees, traipsing through backyards and crossing the road in the southern Manitoba city.

The bear, which looked thin, was seen by residents on Sunday and Monday. The bear has since been captured, Manitoba Conservation said.

Patricia Ellen Pelland was in her yard Sunday morning when a driver warned her about a bear sighting around Keating Road in the northwest corner of Steinbach, a city of 15,000 people about 50 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.

Moments after she walked to her backyard, the driver honked the horn and pointed.

"I look around, there's the bear in the tree, maybe 20 feet away," Ellen Pelland said. "I just jumped and ran to the front door and knocked on my door till my husband let me in."

But her dog stood its ground.

"She started barking and that scared the little fella back in the tree."

While they waited on the phone with police, the bear continued on its way, but not for long. The unwanted neighbour approached another home and sprinted back.

"I think the dog over there must have spooked it," Ellen Pelland said.

The bear eventually headed toward a nearby creek.

Ellen Pelland previously lived in rural Manitoba so seeing bears wasn't outside the norm, but she's never come across one this close.

"It is kind of nerve-racking, because you never know if something's going to scare it and it might attack something," she said. "We warned some of the neighbours around here that had children as well."

She thought the bear seemed scared and nervous.