A black bear damaged beehives west of Powell between Ralston and Lane 9, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed. The bear is suspected to also have damaged a pool owned by Kelly and Mindy Christensen, but the department won’t confirm that.

The Christensens live on Road 12, just east of Ralston and south of U.S. 14-A.

The yearling bear skedaddled after damaging some bee hives at Bill Rouse’s place north of Ralston.

“He disappeared almost a week ago now,” said Luke Ellsbury, Game and Fish large carnivore biologist, on Tuesday.

He has found no bear tracks since and no one has reported seeing a bear in the neighborhood. The black bear may have returned to the mountains, Ellsbury said.

Kelly Christensen is convinced it was a bear that tore a hole in the pool cover and scratched the pool’s liner about three weeks ago — likely the same bear that hit Rouse’s beehives, he said Wednesday.

“He knows what a bear track is,” Christensen said.

The Game and Fish examined the pool, but was unable to confirm 100 percent that a bear was responsible for the minor damages, said Ellsbury.

It is not uncommon for young bears to wander from the mountains, following a river or creek. There has been a slight increase in bear activity in the Big Horn Basin, but “nothing real unusual,” Ellsbury said.