A bear was captured in a residential neighborhood of Palmerton on Tuesday morning and relocated to state game lands near the Lehigh Gorge.

The 130-pound bear took refuge in the branches of a tree along Lehigh Avenue on Tuesday morning after it was seen wandering the streets of the borough.

Based on its size, the bear was likely 1 year old, the time that they leave their mothers and begin to explore on their own.

“They’re kind of figuring out their own way, and they’re the ones who usually get themselves in trouble,” said Cory Bentzoni, a Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officer.

It is uncommon, but not unheard of for bears to wander into busy residential areas. They know that trash cans and bird feeders can supplement them. It so happens that trash was collected Tuesday morning in the area where the bear was found. It’s possible the bear was attracted by an easy meal.

“Usually they know when garbage day is. They know it better than a lot of the people do,” Bentzoni said.

Climbing a tree is a regular response for bears when they perceive a threat. Their mothers teach them from the time that they are cubs to find safety in the trees when they think they are in danger. The bear likely wandered into town while most of the town was sleeping, and then got spooked as they awoke and began going about their day.

After neighbors reported seeing the bear in the tree Tuesday morning, Bentzoni responded along with Palmerton Police and firefighters.

In some cases, all it takes to get a bear out of a tree is a few sledgehammer whacks to the trunk. But the Palmerton bear responded to that by climbing higher in the tree.

Bentzoni used a dart gun to tranquilize the animal. The first two darts did not subdue it, because of a combination of the heat, the bear’s size, and its agitated state. But after being hit with a third dart, the bear fell into a tarp being held by the firefighters below.

“He was small enough to do that. They start getting much bigger, it’s not going to be fun,” Bentzoni said.

Palmerton resident Owen Bruch, who lives across from the property where the bear was found, awoke to find a commotion outside.

He picked up his camera and started filming video of the removal effort. He said that the bear didn’t appear to be too agitated, possibly due to the effects of the first two tranquilizer darts.

“I think it was just kind of freaked out. It was kind of a cat up a tree situation,” he said.

Tammy Schaub was one of about 20 residents watching. “This is the first one we saw up close and when he dropped we were right there to take a picture,” she said.

While the bear’s location wasn’t far from the Lehigh River, Bruch said the neighborhood is not the kind of place you expect to see large animals walking around. Still, he said he will be more aware of them in the future.

“I’d guess it’s a fluke. I’m definitely going to be looking around more before taking out my garbage,” Bruch said.

The volunteers and police loaded the bear into Bentzoni’s Game Commission vehicle so he could transport it to a more rural location. The Game Commission mainly relocates bears inside the county where they are found - in this case state gamelands in Penn Forest Township. By putting the bear in an open area, they hope to give it a chance to establish a territory where it won’t be pushed out by other adult bears.

Every time Bentzoni handles a bear, he gives it a numbered ear tag. If the bear is sighted somewhere where he shouldn’t be again, the officer who responds will know its history.

Bears coming into residential areas isn’t a problem that is going away.

“We keep destroying habitat, and they learn that garbage cans and bird feeders are a great food source,” Bentzoni said. “Some people think it is cute to feed them, but you can be charged for that.”

To report a sighting of a nuisance bear in the Carbon or Monroe County regions, residents can call the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Northeast Region at 570-675-1143. In Schuylkill, Lehigh and Northampton counties, call the Commission’s Southeast Region at 610-926-3136.