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Wandering bear in Essex County, NJ prompts South Orange and Maplewood School District to cancel outdoor activities…
ESSEX COUNTY, New Jersey (WABC) — Reports of a wandering bear in Essex County prompted a local school district to cancel all outdoor activities out of an abundance of caution.
The South Orange ⁘ Maplewood School District said Monday that all district schools were canceling outdoor activities.
A spokesman for the school district said being that the last police report of a bear sighting was at about 10 a.m., all after-school activities would be held as scheduled.
The spokesman said all students and staff would continue to stay inside for the remainder of the school day.
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The bear was seen in the area of Thornden Street and Walton Avenue, South Orange police said in a statement shortly after 7 a.m.
All outdoor activities at district schools – including open lunch at Columbia High School in neighboring Maplewood and outdoor recess at all other schools – are canceled on Monday, official said. After school activities are on, though students and staff will stay inside school buildings for the rest of the day, a South Orange ⁘ Maplewood School District spokesman said.
The state Division of Fish and Wildlife has been contacted, police said. Sighting don’t warrant an on-site response, a spokesman said.
A woman in the neighborhood said she left her house at 6:35 a.m. to walk her dog and encountered a police officer who informed her about the bear. When she got home, she checked her Ring cameras and saw footage of the bear in her backyard and then walking along her driveway at 6:30 a.m.