Bear sightings in Louisville, southern Indiana pique curiosity of homeowners, wildlife officials

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An east Louisville couple could barely believe it when they saw a bear walk through their driveway at 10:45 p.m. Friday.

The big guy was spotted on security cameras outside Mary Rose Pursiful and her husband, Wally's home in the Glenmary neighborhood off Bardstown road near Fern Creek.

"Disbelief," Mary Rose Pursiful said of her reaction when she saw the footage on her cell phone. " I couldn't believe it was a bear."

The Pursifuls said they were not sure where it headed next as it walked out of the video frame toward a neighbors yard.

But across the river, 20 miles away, Stacey Burkhard believes she saw the bear at The Concrete Kingdom in Clarksville, Indiana. Footage taken early Sunday morning appears to show a bear by the front entrance in front of the driveway.

"We're excited. Maybe he's looking for his mom," Burkhard said. "I don't know. If I was a bear. I'd want to come here. There's all kinds of cool stuff to look at."

It's quite possible this bear got a bit confused by the several bears concrete bears at the business. In honor of the bear hysteria, The Concrete Kingdom decided to offer its customers 10% off any bear trinkets Monday.

Unlike Kentucky's sighting, wildlife officials haven't confirmed the southern Indiana report as a bear, because the security footage is more grainy.

But Burkhead said the animal left some evidence behind. She has what she believes is bear hair in an envelope behind the counter at the store.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources officials said the hair will be tested to confirm whether the large animal in the security footage is actually a bear.

Experts say Kentucky has a growing black bear population, and they're known to cross the river. Young male cubs leave the pack in summer to find those bare necessities: a mate and food.

"What we want to do is monitor each observation that comes in and make sure this bear isn't showing aggressive tendencies," said Brad Westrich, a mammalogist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "And as long as that's the case, we're just going to let the bear travel through Indiana."

Here are some bear safety tips to remember: