Hanwell area deals with neighbourhood bears

A Hanwell man is the latest to report a close encounter with a black bear near his home.

Rob Brown wasn't certain what was making noise in his backyard on Monday night. He looked out to discover a black bear beside a toppled garbage can and managed to get some video of the animal as it moved around.

"The bear was in the garbage. It was really only six feet away," he said.

Brown wanted to get the bear out of the area.

"My daughter was due to come home from work around 11 and I thought, `Well, I've got to get rid of this animal.'"

Brown shone a light in the bear's face in an attempt to scare it away, but it wouldn't move on.

Brown then turned on the garden hose and the bear moved on, taking a bag of garbage with it.

Hanwell is on the outskirts of Fredericton and surrounded by woods. Bear encounters are not that uncommon, said resident Murray Lampert.

"My wife, when she is walking with her friends on the streets, meet bears with their cubs and I've had neighbours that have had the bears walk up on their back doorsteps and bang on their patio doors," said Lampert.

When a bear is sighted in the community, people send out notices by email and social media to alert others of its location.

The bear population in New Brunswick is about 17,000.

Two weeks ago, Gilles Cyr was walking in the woods near Grand Falls when a black bear attacked him. Cyr believes he saved his life by grabbing the bear's tongue.

"His mouth was wide open right in front of my face, so the last thing I remember, I had his tongue in my hand and I didn't want to let go because he was trying to fight me off," said Cyr.

In August, forestry worker Pierre Mezzetta was chased and attacked by a bear while working in the woods near Oromocto Lake. He required some stitches.

In July, a black bear chased a Fredericton man into his home then made off with his garbage.