A black bear about two years old and weighing an estimated 110 to 125 pounds is spotted yesterday in South County. / Department of Environmental Management photo

NARRAGANSETT — A black bear spent a drizzly morning yesterday roaming the banks of a South County river, tearing apart a backyard birdfeeder and eluding the police and officers from the Department of Environmental Management responding to calls from residents who spotted the bear in a heavily populated neighborhood.

By late last night, DEM officials and the Narragansett police said they believed they had the animal cornered in the Mettatuxet area near Boston Neck Road.

Authorities last night said that a clutch of bear gawkers made it too difficult to shoot the bear with a sedative and that they planned to wait until dawn before attempting to subdue the animal using a tranquilizer dart.

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Earlier in the day, Narragansett Police Deputy Chief Dean Hoxsie said the South Kingstown police got a call that a bear was spotted in the Middlebridge area — across Narrow River from Narragansett — and then the Narragansett station started getting calls.

“He must have taken a swim across the river,” Hoxsie said.

Steven H. Hall, chief of the DEM’s Division of Law Enforcement, said the South Kingstown police called him about 6:20 a.m. saying a bear had been sighted in their town. While Hall wasn’t sure if it was the same bear he had been hearing about, he said calls started coming in more than a week ago, first from Glocester, where a bear was spotted running across a road. By midweek, a bear was spotted at a Scituate bird feeder. On Friday evening, a call came in about a bear on a Coventry street.

On Saturday, a bear was spotted feeding at a West Greenwich trash bin and a sighting came from the Big River area, just off Route 95.

“He must have taken Sunday off,” Hall said. And the Monday holiday, too. Bear calls ceased until early yesterday, when residents returned to work after the long weekend.

“It might not be the same bear, but it’s a pretty straight line,” Hall said, tracking sighting information.

Hall and Hoxsie identified the animal as a black bear, 110 to 125 pounds, and it was seen first in South County on the South Kingstown side of the Pettaquamscutt River, known locally as Narrow River.

“It jumped in Narrow River and swam to Narragansett,” Hall said. “We got a bunch of calls.”

Narragansett police officers and others from the DEM entered a wooded area near Sassafras Trail and Emery Street, which Hoxsie said is a quarter of a mile from the river and fairly close to Route 1A, just south of Bonnet Shores.

A Narragansett police officer, Sgt. Brian Routhier, spotted the bear, Hoxsie said, adding that Routhier is from New Hampshire and is familiar with black bears.

Three officers from Narragansett and five from the DEM searched the residential Mettatuxet neighborhood, but the bear stayed one step ahead most of the day.

“He was seen walking down a number of streets,” Hall said.

At one point, the officers had him surrounded, but then the bear disappeared into the woods, he said.

“They’re pretty quick.”

Once captured, plans call for the bear to be taken to a management area within Rhode Island, Hall said, because other states don’t want to deal with another state’s bear dilemma. “It’s your problem, you deal with it,” he said.

The bear spotted in Narragansett, Hall suspects, “came out to feed. He’s not afraid of people anymore.”

While Hall said he wouldn’t characterize black bears as highly dangerous, “any wildlife can be dangerous. Don’t approach it. Don’t attempt to feed it.”

Females with cubs can be especially dangerous, he said.

In 2000, a black bear was spotted at the screen door of a house in Harrisville and, in 1994, a black bear was shot by a DEM employee after roaming the streets of Foster for several hours, grazing in garbage cans and killing and eating a pet goat.

“We haven’t had a bear population in Rhode Island since before the Revolutionary War,” Hall said, “but it seems like it’s picking up again.

To discourage bears from being attracted to residential areas, Hoxsie recommended that residents take down bird feeders and not leave garbage outside.

Residents who happen to spot a bear are advised to call their local police or the DEM at (401) 222-6800 or after-hours emergencies at (401) 222-3070.

And Hall offered one final piece of advice for anyone who spots a bear on the loose: “Stay in the house.”

With reports from staff writer Scott MacKay.

afleming@projo.com