Supposed Bear Sighting Captured On Ring Video Footage Bohemia

BOHEMIA, NY — One Long Island residents received a bear of a scare this week.

Suffolk County police received a call of a possible bear sighting in Bohemia on Monday, after a person watched a Ring surveillance video with a reported bear on social media.

The time stamp of the video was Nov. 9, police said.

Officers then canvassed the area of Louis Kossuth Avenue and Maddison Street at 8:30 p.m., but saw no bear in sight.

The owner of the video took it down from the original post not long after it was initially posted, but others had copied it and are circulating it, police said.

Strong Island Animal Rescue, an animal advocacy group, told Patch that they met with a trapper who checked the area for an hour and a half on Tuesday with a bloodhound. They found no traces of a bear, they said.

"There is no solid evidence at this time," the group wrote. “We know this could be a serious issue and are not writing it off, but at this time the original poster has not come forward and not shared exact location, and the fact that the post is down so quickly, it could be a hoax.”

Several instances of wild animals made headlines this year on Long Island, such as a lynx in Islip, a coyote in Nassau County, a cow in Manorville, and a bull in Shirley last summer.