{"id":591855,"date":"2026-04-18T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591855\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T14:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:10:10","slug":"bear-in-mind-bear-sighted-at-thornton-road-mcdonalds-douglasville-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591855\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear in Mind: Bear sighted at Thornton Road McDonald&#8217;s | Douglasville Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Apparently, fast food is a \u201cbear\u201d necessity<\/p>\n<p>Douglas County authorities say a black bear was spotted near a McDonald\u2019s restaurant on Thornton Road in Lithia Springs on Thursday night, following an earlier sighting in a nearby neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was sighted earlier in the week on somebody\u2019s doorbell camera wandering through the neighborhood,\u201d said Douglas County Emergency Management Director James Queen. \u201cWe think it\u2019s the same one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeave it alone,\u201d he added. \u201cDon\u2019t approach it. As long as people stay away from it, we\u2019re not going to have any issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Officials said no attacks or encounters with humans have been reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBears prefer to avoid people whenever possible, but bears are powerful wild animals and may defend themselves when surprised or feeling threatened,\u201d according to the website <a href=\"http:\/\/BearWise.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BearWise.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The website says April is when most bears end their hibernation and leave their dens in search of food. They often return to places where they have found a meal before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs expected, bears are going to be hungry when they emerge from their winter dens, and that means getting easy-to-obtain food as soon as possible,\u201d said Adam Hammond, a biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources\u2019 Wildlife Resources Division. \u201cDon\u2019t let your home become a bear buffet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who spots the bear is encouraged to call 911 or Douglas County Animal Services at 770-942-5961.<\/p>\n<p>Residents are strongly advised not to approach, touch, attempt to capture or otherwise interfere with the bear. Wild animals can be unpredictable, and maintaining a safe distance is critical for both public safety and the animal\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n<p>Douglas County Animal Services encouraged residents to take the following precautions:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Secure trash cans and, when possible, keep them out of outdoor areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Remove or closely monitor outdoor pet feeding stations.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Eliminate any accessible food sources that may attract wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Bear activity in populated areas is common this time of year, particularly at night, as bears search for food. Residents are encouraged to remain aware of their surroundings and take proactive measures to protect themselves and their pets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apparently, fast food is a \u201cbear\u201d necessity Douglas County authorities say a black bear was spotted near a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[258367,3,79,201],"class_list":["post-591855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-douglasville_sentinel","tag-news","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}