Madison Township home previously occupied by American black bear to be razed

Butler County's land bank approved funding a new demolition this week: a home in Madison Township that used to house a family with a pet black bear. "It kind of scared me in case it would ever get out, but we got to know 'em and we saw it do tricks," former neighbor Merry Tipton said. "It was really cool." The property was abandoned around 2014, Township Administrator Todd Farler said, and the house itself became the hairiest, scariest beast in the neighborhood. Although Tipton said she would always look fondly on her memories of her neighbors' unusual pet, she added it was time for the community to become less of a jungle. "It'll make our neighborhood look better," she said.