All schools in Upshur County will close at 1 p.m. today. All B-UHS sporting events today are canceled.

Buckhannon, be alert: Bear sighted in city Monday

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Upshur County officials are urging residents to be alert after more bear sightings have been reported inside Buckhannon city limits.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Monday, the Upshur County Office of Emergency Management sent out a text message urging residents near Randolph Street to go inside after bear sightings were reported to the E-911 Communications Center.

About 10 minutes later, an Upshur County Sheriff’s deputy spotted a bear cub near Micrologic, headed east, away from the city, roughly along the Old Elkins Road. According to radio traffic, a wildlife biologist from Elkins is en route with a trap.

At 2 p.m., the OEM sent a second message canceling the ‘shelter in place’ notice.

The most recent sightings come after a woman was mauled by a bear at her home in Tennerton early Friday morning. A bear was also spotted by a West Virginia Wesleyan college administrator on campus last week.

On Monday, city information coordinator Callie Cronin Sams told My Buckhannon the police department was actively coordinating with the W.Va. Department of Natural Resources on a plan in response to the sightings.

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