After a day out of view, another bear sighting. Is this the same one from southern IL?

A black bear was seen Wednesday afternoon in southern Missouri about 30 miles from a similar sighting in southern Illinois on Monday, a Cape Girardeau, Missouri, television station reported.

The bear was spotted in Brewer, Missouri, in Perry County, according to KFVS-Channel 12, which received photos of the bear from a woman who told the station she saw the bear while she was with her husband.

There have been a flurry of black bear sightings in four southern Illinois counties this month but none for about 48 hours. Wednesday’s sighting raised questions on social media about whether the bear seen in Illinois had made its way to Missouri by swimming across the Mississippi River.

Missouri has an established population of black bears and the state’s Department of Conservation has said there are an estimated 900 bears in the state. A bear hunting season was established in 2021 and this year’s season is scheduled for Oct. 21-30.

The confirmed bear sightings in southern Illinois this month occurred in Jackson, Williamson, Saline and Pope counties, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The agency said in a news release Monday that it did not know if this was the same bear or if there were multiple bears in southern Illinois.

Reports on social media showed the Illinois sightings were reported in areas going toward the west.

The last reported sighting was on Monday near Ava in Jackson County, which is about 30 miles from Brewer.

Last year in Illinois, a black bear was seen in June in Randolph County, the sheriff’s office reported. In 2021, there were confirmed bear sightings in Monroe, Clinton, Washington and Franklin counties, and the Illinois Department of Conservation Police said this apparently was the same bear that roamed in the four counties.