It used to be that north Alabama residents would have to travel to Gatlinburg to see a bear roaming around.

That’s no longer the case, at least according to the YouTube video provided by Cathy Hutchins. A bear was captured roaming through a yard in her Marina Park neighborhood of Huntsville.

According to Outdoor Alabama, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website, the state’s black bear population historically only occurred in the southwest portion of the state, primarily in Mobile, Washington and Clarke counties. It said bears of that part of the state are of the Florida subspecies, Ursus americanus floridanus, and while in low numbers here, are quite abundant throughout many areas of Florida.

But recent years, black bears have steadily immigrated into north Alabama from northwest Georgia, with the largest concentration in DeKalb, Cherokee and Etowah counties, and have established a small, but viable population in this region of the state.

While these bears look similar to the Florida bear, they are classified as a different subspecies, the American Black Bear, Ursus americanus americanus. In addition to these core areas, sporadic bear sightings have been documented in other areas throughout the state, which may indicate that Alabama’s black bear populations are slowly increasing, the state conservation site said.