Black bear spotted in southern Illinois

A black bear was sighted this week traveling through southern Illinois.

The Carrier Mills Police Department is urging people in and around the village to be on alert.

They said the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has been contacted and conservation officers are monitoring the situation.

The public is strongly urged not to approach the bear and to call your local law enforcement to report any bear sightings. Bears are protected by the Illinois Wildlife Code and may not be hunted, killed or harassed.

This is at least the 5th sighting in the past five years of a bear in southern Illinois.

In western Kentucky, a bear was spotted in the past month wandering through Daviess, Ohio, Hopkins and Caldwell counties. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife says this is fairly typical as Kentucky's bear population has rebounded in recent years.