Black bear sighting in Buda neighborhood

Bear sighting in Buda

Residents in Hays County are on alert after a flyer was shared online, warning of a recent bear sighting in a Buda neighborhood.

BUDA, Texas - Residents in Hays County are on alert after a flyer was shared online, warning of a recent bear sighting in a Buda neighborhood.

The backstory:

"I'm going on 19 years in the sheriff's office. Also, at the college up here before that, I’ve never heard of a bear sighting in Hays County," says Hays County Sheriff's Office Lt. Clint Pulpan.

A warning flyer posted to social media reads, "please exercise caution, recent bear sighting in the area, remain vigilant of surroundings."

"If you see one, you can call us, but it's a wild animal. It's nothing really, we're going to do with it. It's like reporting a deer or a mountain lion," says Lt. Clint Pulpan.

The author of the post says a homeowners' owners association placed the flyers in mailboxes in the city of Buda.

"It's one of two things. It could be a hoax, or it's somebody trying to make the community aware and then not knowing about the wildlife in the area, like not knowing that there aren't bears in Central Texas outside of captivity, that I’m aware of, I should say. I'm not a wildlife expert. I'm basing all of my opinion on the distribution map on the parks and wildlife website and per that map, there are no bears in our county, in Hays County or surrounding counties that have been reported," says Lt. Clint Pulpan.

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office says that black bears are native to Texas but are mainly in east, south, and southwest Texas, not Central Texas.

"If I lived in the subdivision where this occurred, I would not be worried about a bear at all. I would be more worried about rabid animals. I'd be more worried about skunks, foxes, bats, coyotes, things like that," says Lt. Clint Pulpan.

The sheriff's office says if you do see a bear, take a picture or record if possible and contact Texas Parks and Wildlife.