SUNBURY -- There was some excitement in Sunbury Friday morning as a bear made her way through town.
The 200-pound female black bear was not in a remote area. She was making her way through a residential neighborhood in Sunbury.
She led officers on a chase for about an hour and a half and had an audience of dozens.
Tamme Bryant took her grandson to school in Sunbury on what she thought was a normal Friday morning. Right before she dropped him off they saw a deer.
"And he said, 'last year we saw turkeys, this year we saw a deer,' and he said, 'do you think we'd see a bear, Meemaw?' I said, 'no, Blake, I don't think so."
Not even ten minutes after that conversation, Bryant saw a 200-pound female black bear.
"She came bounding out from between where my daughter used to live, looked up at me and then rolled back through the houses. It was a very quick glimpse but she was a very impressive size for me anyway."
It's not like the bear was spotted in a rural, woodsy area. It was found on Edison Avenue in a residential area in the heart of Sunbury with about 50 people watching.
"That was the first bear I've seen in town that close, that far into town because it was right in the center of town," said Sunbury Police Cpl. Brad Hare.
Cpl. Hare and code enforcement officer Mike Rhoads were called in help catch the bear.
Rhoads took video on his cell phone. The bear jumped on an SUV, jumped back down, and took off running.
"I've been here for ten years and this is the first time I've ever seen a bear," said Rhoads.
"Not a place I would have anticipated a bear to be seen, never, never in my life," Bryant added.
The game commission caught the bear after about an hour and a half. They tranquilized her and released her safely into the nearby woods.
"As we were leaving she was starting to wake up," said Cpl. Hare. "They put the stuff in her to start to wake up. She was out on her own again."
Sunbury police say there were also reports of the bear being spotted Thursday night in Sunbury. No one was hurt in the bear chase and the bear is safe and back in the woods.