FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — A Forsyth County homeowner is worried about the safety of his grandchildren after capturing pictures of a giant black bear on his land.
The bear stands about six feet tall and has been tearing down bird feeders and causing other property damage along the shores of Lake Lanier
.
“To get the pictures and see the size of him, it's kind of amazing. He's a large animal,” homeowner Waymond Henry told Channel 2’s Tom Regan.
Henry showed Regan the pictures his automated cameras snapped of the huge bear wandering around his property, usually in the early evening.
One photo shows the bear grabbing one of Henry’s bird-feeder poles. He told Regan the bear has damaged several of them trying to get to the seeds.
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Henry thinks the bear lives in Army Corps of Engineers woodlands nearby and make his way over to try to find an easy meal or snack.
“One time, he turned over the garbage can, we don't know what scared him, but something scared," he said
Henry found large paw prints in the sand and estimates the bear weighs 300 pounds.
He said there have been a couple of times that the bear has come too close for comfort.
“He came up and poked around. If you look at the back door, he's got a nose print and a muddy paw print on the door,” Henry said, showing the marks from the bear.
And while he knows black bears are usually not aggressive, Henry said he worries about his grandchildren playing out near the lake.
“Black bears are supposed to be docile, but if a child runs up on one, who knows?" Henry said.
Henry said the state Department of Natural Resources told him they told him they would come and trap the bear if it became a real nuisance. In the meantime, their advice for Henry was to put no food outside and just make some noise when he shows up again.
Henry said he'd like to get a firsthand look.
“If we hear a noise outside, we'd come out and shine a light. We would love to see him,” Henry told Regan.
Henry said he's going to take down his bird feeders and send the bear a message that there's no free lunch on his land.
Cox Media Group
