Bear traps New Jersey paramedics

WAYNE (WABC) -- Paramedics in New Jersey were slowed responding to a call by a bear that kept them trapped inside their building.

"We were six inches apart, I could see his eyes, I think I scared him and he scared me," Kevin Luyendyk said.

Luyendyk, a Wayne resident, had to think fast when he came face to face with a 150 pound bear Monday morning.

"I got my ruler out of my pocket, I threw it at him, it hit him in the head and then he ran back to the woods," Luyendyk said.

The bear's brief appearance in the Ridge Rise townhouses was one of many stops he, his sibling and their mother made around Wayne Monday.

The bear family kept police on the run after dropping in on Saint Joseph's Hospital paramedics at their wooded headquarters off College Road.

"It's not the first bears we've seen, it's the first that prevented us from going out on a call," said Mark Veenema, a St. Joseph's paramedic.

Paramedics took a photo of one of the bears who parked himself in front of the garage, leading to fears that if the door was opened, he could run inside.

The bears kept the paramedics at bay for 20 minutes.

Luckily, another ambulance was close by and they responded to the call.

Police never caught up with the bears in Wayne Monday.

Last week, police and wildlife officials did track down a young male bear behind a bakery in Englewood.

Wildlife officials say this is the active season for bears and they are busy out looking for food and mates.

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new jersey, wayne, bear, local news, jen maxfield

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