Bear finds safe haven in Seymour tree

Knoxville’s CBS affiliate, WVLT Channel 8, reported this week that a pet German Shepard trapped a black bear in a tree for several hours of last weekend in Seymour at a private residence near Bays Mountain Golf Course. Home owner Bill Hays told the television station that his pet German Shepard, Graham, trapped the displaced animal in a tree in his back yard and kept the frightened bear out on a limb for 13 hours before the bear finally worked up the nerve to make a run for it sometime after midnight Sunday morning. WVLT showed footage of the bear taking shelter in the tree as the nine-year old German Shepard barked and stared at the animal Saturday. This is the latest among several reports of displaced black bears wandering into residential areas in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Residents of Seymour have grown accustomed to normal sightings of bears over the years, but folks from as far removed from the Smoky Mountains as residents of West Knoxville have reported visits from bears in the past year. Hays told the station he heard his dog bark at 2 o’clock in the morning and went outside to find the bear gone. A representative of the TWRA said that the bear probably made a safe and uninterrupted trip back to the mountains after escaping from the Seymour tree.