Bears now invading Noble Horizons

SALISBURY — The bear problem continues at Noble Horizons, where residents have reported bears ripping up screen doors and in one case actually entering a cottage.

Marge Wheaton, administrative assistant to Noble Administrator William Pond, said Monday, July 30, that the facility seems to have multiple bears.

Wheaton said the bait food (doughnuts) was carried off by smaller animals that did not trigger the trap that was there.

Residents in the residential cottages have been provided with air horns to scare off any visiting bears.

Geoff Klish, director of environmental services at Noble, said in an email that on Friday, July 20, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) set a trap, after a bear briefly entered a cottage, “but quickly turned around and left.”

But since the trap had no activity for a week, DEEP removed it on Friday, July 27.

“Now, of course, the bears are back.

“We wanted to introduce paintball guns to ‘haze’ off the bears, but current policies forbid them on campus,” Klish wrote.

“All cottagers have been asked not to put their trash out until the day of pick-up, and not to keep food near open windows.

“Currently no other measures are planned.”