BY REBECCA SHEEHAN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Lions – thank god no. Tigers – definitely no. But bears roaming in the Garden State – most definitely yes and one little cub made his presence known Tuesday morning in the artsy town of Montclair.

According to the New York Times report, the bear was simply just looking for some schoolchildren to play with; all Montclair schools were ordered to keep their students indoors as well as a cancellation of preparations for a fun-run to raise money for Africa. All this commotion for a young and scared bear who did not realize he was the talk of the town.

“The Montclair Police Department has notified us that there have been bear citings in Montclair: yesterday (Monday) near the Montclair Art Museum (located on South Mountain Avenue) and this morning (Tuesday), near Edgemont School (located on Edgemont Road),” Penny MacCormack, the school superintendent said to the New York Times in a note sent out Tuesday morning, which included the misused “citings.” “As a precaution, we are suspending all outside activities at all of our elementary and middle schools.”

Throughout the day, police and wildlife officials were called each time the bear was spotted around town. While at the scene, officials used air horns and other loud noises in an attempt to lure the bear toward Mills Reservation, which is the northern edge of town. Although their attempts failed, on Tuesday morning the bear was spotted hanging out in a tree in Watchung Park and soon thereafter cornered.

Officials from the Division of Fish and Wildlife arrived and shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun, according to officials. The black bear was estimated to be about 18 months old, weighing 158 pounds. Montclair Det. Lt. Angel Roman said the bear was later tagged and tattooed for identification purposes and will be released on state land.