News 12 at 6 o'clock, June 17, 2009

EVANS, Ga. --- A black bear on the prowl through Columbia County is creating a stir for the third day in a row.

The boy bear has been spotted all over town, today near Washington Road and Silver Lakes.

We sent News 12's Lynnsey Gardner, on a bear hunt, once again.

And once again, this bear was faster than us and maybe lucky for him.

Tranquilizer gun in hand, DNR, and Columbia County Animal Control and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, out in two neighborhoods as a black bear is on the move through suburban Columbia County, creating a bear of a story.

"The call we got this morning is that the bear was hemmed up and we needed to get here," says IB Parnell, a wildlife biologist with Georgia DNR.

But the bear wasn't. In fact, he was caught taking a swim across a lake in the Woodbridge subdivision.

"He's a good swimmer," said Linda Fulmer who is with Columbia County Animal Care and Control. She's been searching since Monday with us.

Wednesday, she got her first glance. "It was really just kind of a calm moment, after looking for so long then you see him walking around, he was not agitated or anything. He just kind of ambled off."

And onto Andrea Ashley's street. "The bear and I are neighbors right now."

Norma Rogers is also out, enjoying the excitement. "I'd like to see a bear, but at a distance."

After three days through neighborhood after neighborhood, through woods, up trees, over fences, across playgrounds, and now lakes, covering miles of ground; it's clear this bear is fast moving, but slow going.

"What we would like is for him to be walking north or east.. either one of those is very preferable." But Parnell says tranquilizing him and moving him to a bear habitat is not ideal. "It's not a very good survival rate for those bears, now it's better than getting hit by a car which might happen down here."

For now, the bear has been laying low for the rest of the day, so we may have to wait until tomorrow to find out where the bear heads next.

If he gets scared up a tree, or heads south or west into more populated areas, DNR says they'll likely have to use that tranquilizer gun.