Black bear visits councilman, has a picnic in Gaithersburg

Courtesy of Owen Lennon A bear drank from a bird bath and ate from bird feeders in the yard of Owen and Liz Lennon of Gaithersburg on Saturday. Featured Jobs See all jobs

The bear, described as a 3-year-old male weighing 200 pounds, was first seen crossing Longdraft Road into the West Riding neighborhood, where it lunched in Lennon’s yard then toured the neighborhood. Police reported that a black bear was spotted on Saturday morning in Germantown.

‘‘It was almost surreal, people just saw it and didn’t believe it,” said Joann Schimke, president of the West Riding Citizens Association.

The bear, estimated to be 3-feet tall when on all fours, pulled down a birdfeeder and snacked on the feed, then took a nap, Lennon said.

He stopped at the Keystone Drive home of City Councilman Henry A. Marraffa Jr. and then headed south, with county police and Marraffa, a former bear hunter, in pursuit.

The animal loped several blocks parallel to Great Seneca Highway before turning back into West Riding toward Diamond Elementary School, Marraffa said.

Gaithersburg Animal Control Director Lisa Holland, who has seen three bears in the city in 21 years of service, said the bear was never caught and he was likely exploring new territory.

‘‘This is when they leave their moms,” she said. ‘‘He’s a teenager, I guess.”

About 10 authorities tracked the animal into the woods at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Holland said.

After an officer suggested using a lasso and tranquilizer to capture the bear, Marraffa called the state Department of Natural Resources, who told him to ‘‘bang some pots and pans,” to scare it away, he said. Concerned about the ‘‘one percent of times” that the strategy won’t work, the councilman has proposed a meeting so that local and state authorities can agree on how to remove a bear.

‘‘I don’t really want it adopting us quite yet,” Schimke said.