THIEF RIVER FALLS--Police are keeping a watchful eye near Challenger Elementary School in Thief River Falls after receiving reports this week of a mother bear and her cubs roaming there.
Officers have not had to tangle with the bears, but children were held inside for recess as a precaution Wednesday, Police Chief Dick Wittenberg said.
"There's always a danger with a mother bear that's protecting her cubs, so we don't want anybody messing with them," he said. "We just want to have people leave them alone. It's OK to observe them from a distance, but they're not teddy bears. They're real bears."
With no school today and Friday because of parent-teacher conferences, Wittenberg added the situation would be re-evaluated Monday before children would be let out for recess.
"The bears haven't been on the school grounds, at all. They've just been near them," he said.
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Bear sightings around Thief River Falls are not unusual, with a number of reports coming in over the summer and fall, Wittenberg said. Bears are normally close to or are hibernating by this time of year, but the mild weather and presence of food has kept them active longer than usual.
