Chesterfield County police said they received several sightings of a bear going through trash cans in residential areas yesterday morning.

The sightings came from four residential areas before 7 a.m. -- Ives Road, Hull Street and Turner roads, the Stevens Hollow area, and Able Road and Ghent Drive.

A state wildlife biologist is working with Chesterfield police to prevent encounters between bears and humans, while giving the bear or bears a chance to return to the wild without interference.

"Nine times out of 10, we back off and give him some space," said Julia Dixon, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "He found his way in; he can find his way out."

The bear was spotted by police and residents, a police spokeswoman said. There were no sightings reported after 7 a.m. yesterday. Police don't have an exact description of the bear and were not actively searching for it.

No injuries were reported.

Police spokeswoman Ann Reid urged people not to approach the bear if they see it.

These weren't the first sightings of a bear this week in the county. Debra Q. Marlow, schools spokeswoman for Chesterfield, said a parent in the Woodlake area saw a bear cub on Wednesday and notified school officials, who restricted recess to fenced areas at Clover Hill and Woolridge elementary schools.

Bear sightings are common in populated areas in the spring, Dixon said. The bears are looking for food, and the best way to discourage their presence is to not leave food out to attract them. It is illegal to feed bears in Virginia.

"We anticipate this happening every year," Dixon said. "We have a pretty healthy bear population." -- Paige Mudd, Michael Martz and Jeremy Slayton