BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A one-and-a-half-minute video is the talk of the town at the Benedictine Living Community - At The Shrine in Belleville. The video shows a large black bear wandering through the courtyard Monday afternoon.
"It was just so exciting," resident Sister Millie Gross told 5 On Your Side, "Last night at supper here, we all talked about the bear."
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Millie was walking with Physical Therapist Assistant Tammy Sinn on Monday when the bear showed up on the grass.
"We see a lot of deer and turkeys," Sinn said. "No bears though."
The Benedictine Living Community - At The Shrine is a certified wildlife habitat. The site is 200 acres of woods and grassland. There aren't many buildings on the grounds, but the bear found itself in the middle of them.
"He was looking in the windows. When he went to the door, he went to the corner like he knew what he was doing," Sinn told 5 On Your Side.
Illinois Conservation Police Game Warden Don Schachner suspects the bear may have been looking for food.
"They have incredibly sensitive noses, somebody could have just eaten a donut and touched the door handle when they came in. Who knows," Schachner said.
The bear moved on from Belleville. Schachner said it is heading north, but has no idea where he will end up,
"That's anybody's guess. He's just doing what God made bears to do, which is if it's a male bear, they'll travel very extensive distances basically looking for food and females."
There is no breeding populations in Illinois, so the bear will likely not stick around long.