THE Mpumalanga Parks Board warned residents in Nelspruit on Wednesday to be on the lookout for a large black bear reportedly spotted in hills just outside the town limits. MPB spokesperson Gary Sutter said rangers were at first dubious about the spotting until they checked the area roughly 12km from town and found spoor very similar to that of an American Grizzly Bear. He said it was possible that someone had kept the animal illegally. It was spotted along a dirt road on the Rocky Ridge smallholding, about 12km out on the Barberton road, by 56-year-old secretary, Rina Otto, while she was driving to work on Wednesday at about 8.15am. “It definitely wasn’t a dog,” she said.