A bear sighting last Friday near Easton Hall and the Chi Phi fraternity house was reported to Public Safety by several students on Monday.
“I was very shocked,” said Robbie Neumeyer ’26, who videotaped the bear from his window in the Chi Phi fraternity house. “I would expect them to be more in the woods.”
Neumeyer coincidentally awoke around 1 a.m. on Saturday to messages in his house group chat about a bear outside. He looked out his window and recorded a video now widespread on college-adjacent social media feeds. Neumeyer did not report the sighting to Public Safety but ensured that his housemates stayed inside for safety concerns.
“It felt like I was still in a dream,” he said. “How random is that?”
A campus-wide email was sent as a “timely warning” for the sighting by Public Safety on Monday afternoon. The email states that there were “student reports of a black bear near campus, in the wooded area behind Easton Hall.”
“If you spot a bear or any other unusual activity on or near campus, please contact Public Safety at 610-330-5330,” the email reads. Assistant Director of Public Safety Sandra Rogers could not be reached for comment; it is unknown how many students reported a bear sighting or when the reports were made.
According to the email, Public Safety reported the sighting to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Information & Education Supervisor Matthew Johnson said that the commission had been receiving reports of a bear in the Easton area for the past week. He emphasized that black bears are normal in the Lehigh Valley — though less normal at this time in the fall — and that the commission will not look to relocate the bear as it appears to be mobile and has not prompted complaints.
“There really isn’t a reason to be afraid of them,” he said, also encouraging residents to report bear sightings to help the commission collect data.
Travis Lau, the communications director for the commission, said that bear populations are tracked at a statewide level.
“It is population management, as opposed to individual animals or groups,” he said.
Black bear attacks are “extremely rare,” according to the commission’s website. Should a bear encounter occur, the commission recommends making noise to scare it away, creating space and staying calm to avoid escalating the situation. There has never been a reported fatal wild black bear attack in Pennsylvania.
If a bear is sighted, it can be reported to the Pennsylvania Game Commission Southeast Region with a phone call to 833-742-4868 or 833-742-9453 or Easton Police Non-Emergency at 610-759-2200. If a bear becomes aggressive, one can call 911. It is illegal to feed bears.
Black bears are typically attracted to residential areas by potential food sources.
“Suburban bears aren’t necessarily unusual,” Lau said.
Pennsylvania is within the top 10 most black bear-populous states. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission 2024 Black Bear Plan, the Keystone State is home to about 16,000 black bears, the state’s only native bear species. Black bear populations have been growing following restoration efforts to counteract a long history of deforestation and overhunting in the Northeast.
