There was a bear on the loose near downtown Steinbach earlier this afternoon.

Gerry Klassen says he was driving down Brandt Street near Woodhaven Avenue when a small bear ran right in front of him. The bear was running towards Friesen Avenue.

"He was going at a pretty good clip," says Klassen. "I thought man am I seeing things?"

Klassen turned towards the direction the bear had been running and the next thing he knew, it raced right behind his vehicle towards Linden Place.

Klassen decided to call RCMP and started warning people in the area.

"Some of the residents at Linden Place thought they'd like to lure him down with some doughnuts but I suggested no," says Klassen.

According to Klassen, the bear ended up on a roof or tree near Linden Place. Police are tracking the animal and Manitoba Conservation has been called in to have it removed.

Klassen says the bear looked to be about 18 to 24 months in age. He says it looked quite skinny and was in panic mode. He says with police concerned about it running into a populated area, he warned as many people as he could.

"This is a first for me so every day is a new day and got my pulse rate up a bit," says Klassen. "Nobody's hurt and that's the main thing."

We will provide more details as they become available.

(Photo credit: Patricia Ellen Pelland)

(Photo credit: Lois Loewen Epp)

(Photo credit: Patricia Ellen Pelland)

(Photo credit: Willi Dueck)