Norwich ― Officials on Friday night were still trying to coax a bear down from a tree after it wandered into a shopping plaza.

Police said that at approximately 3:46 p.m. they were dispatched to the East Great Plain shopping plaza off Salem Turnpike after receiving numerous calls of a bear behind the McDonald’s restaurant, Officer Brandon Wisniewski said.

He said state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection personnel were attempting to convince the animal to get down and go back into the woods.

As of 8:10 p.m., the bear was still in the tree and police remained on the scene. The DEEP, though, had left to go on another call, according to police.

"The bear is expected to remain in the tree until it can safely move to nearby areas of refuge when people are no longer present," DEEP Spokesman Will Healey said just before 9 p.m. Friday night.

Police are barring vehicles and pedestrians from entering the plaza.

This is a developing story.