Principal scares off bear at Hartford school

A bear made an appearance at a Hartford high school Thursday morning, startling two students before the principal scared it away, a school spokesman said.

The incident happened at University High School of Science and Engineering, 351 Mark Twain Drive, about 10:20 a.m., John Fergus said. No one was injured.

The male students were outside the school when they saw the bear and ran away from it, Fergus said.

Principal Sean Tomany said he was on his way to a meeting when he heard about the bear sighting on his portable radio. He went outside the school and as he walked around the corner of the south side of the building, he saw a mid-sized bear about five yards away.

He banged a handicapped parking sign two or three times to scare it away, he said. The bear, which already looked like it was headed toward the Park River, hurried along.

“It was already kind of spooked,” Tomany said. “I don’t think it was expecting all these humans.”

The high school had indoor recess because of the bear sighting. Tomany made sure the neighboring Annie Fisher Montessori Magnet School at 280 Plainfield St. was aware of the incident. Both schools are in the northwest corner of the city, near the river and the University of Hartford.

Sixteen bear sightings in Hartford were reported to the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection in the past year, the agency said.

Those who see bears should make noise and wave their arms to make them aware of their presence. They should back away slowly, but not run or climb a tree, DEEP said.

Christine Dempsey can be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.