Black Bears Make Presence Known in 'Burbs

Sighting Near Elementary School Is Latest in Ashburn Area Over Few Days

First, it was a tornado warning. Then, it was unseasonable heat. But the third calamity that caused outdoor recess to be canceled at Sanders Corner Elementary School in Loudoun County was the most bizarre of all.

It was a bear.

"Well, she said 'wild animal,' and I couldn't imagine what it might be," said Michelle Kuhfahl, 8, who was sitting in her second-grade classroom when the principal made the announcement. "I thought maybe it was the fox we see out there sometimes."

A black bear, either a cub or fully grown, depending on the report, was spotted ambling near the Ashburn school about 9:30 a.m. The shy creature eventually retreated into the trees, and the sheriff's office chose not to hunt it down.

The sighting was the latest in a string that have been reported in the Ashburn area during the past few days. The county Department of Animal Care and Control received a report Tuesday of a bear lumbering along the side of nearby Claiborne Parkway.

The same day, a bear cub was struck on the Dulles Greenway and had to be euthanized. Authorities believe that a mother bear and her cub or cubs might be lost in the neighborhood.

"We've been getting calls and sightings all week long, from Lansdowne to Broadlands to the Greenway to Evergreen Mill," said Tom Koenig, director of the animal control department.

Sightings of black bears are common in Virginia this time of year, said Jaime Sajecki, black bear project leader for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Mother bears are introducing their young to the world, she said, and the older male cubs have begun wandering away from their mothers' territory.

The docile and intelligent creatures do not often bother with people, said Sajecki, adding that there have been no known unprovoked bear attacks in Virginia.

Docile or not, the sighting triggered a mother-bear reaction in Kathleen Hwang, principal of Sanders Corner, who was not inclined to take risks with a wild beast on the loose in the Ashburn Farm community. She canceled outdoor activities and sent e-mails and voice messages to parents of the students. And at the end of the day, she gathered all those who walk home and put them on buses.

"That was a first for me as a principal," Hwang said after the last student had gone.