A bear was reported wandering through Spanish Trace Apartments in Saraland on September 12, 2020 — a vivid reminder that Mobile County’s expanding residential developments increasingly overlap with black bear habitat in the surrounding rural and suburban landscape.
What Happened
A resident of Spanish Trace Apartments captured video of the bear making its way through the apartment complex’s parking areas and nearby streets. The footage quickly circulated on social media, drawing a mix of excitement and concern from both neighbors and wildlife watchers.
County wildlife authorities advise residents never to approach, corner, or chase a bear. Bears are generally not aggressive, and most encounters end with the animal calmly leaving the area on its own. The arrival of a bear in a residential area in Saraland — a city at Mobile County’s northern edge where subdivisions give way to forest and farmland — is not unheard of, particularly in late summer and early fall.
Bears in South Alabama
South Alabama’s interior supports a population of American black bears that occasionally wander into populated areas in Mobile and Washington counties. As the Saraland and Satsuma areas have experienced rapid residential expansion into former woodland, bear sightings in neighborhoods have become an intermittent recurring occurrence — and the animals are generally more active in late summer, when natural food sources begin to shift seasonally.
If you encounter a bear, authorities recommend staying at a safe distance, keeping pets leashed and indoors, and securing trash cans and bird feeders — common attractants. Residents who see a bear in a residential area are encouraged to report the sighting to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources at (334) 242-3469 or local animal control.