Native Information
One bear captured the curiosity of individuals throughout Massachusetts as he traveled throughout the state in June.
In Might and June, southeastern Massachusetts residents had been captivated by frequent sightings of a younger male black bear that was seen roaming throughout the area.
Throughout the bear’s travels, MassWildlife acquired flurries of calls reporting sightings because it moved by every city, MassWildlife biologist Dave Wattles stated. Primarily based on that data, officers are fairly sure it was only one bear.
“We’ve been in a position to constantly observe that animal’s actions and are very, very assured that it’s only a single animal,” he stated.
The bear was first noticed round Sharon, Franklin, and Mansfield. However over the subsequent few weeks, it traveled south by Taunton, Dighton, Freetown, and eventually into Fall River.
It then appeared to move east by Dartmouth, New Bedford, Acushnet, Mattapoisett, Marion, and Wareham, earlier than turning north and tromping by Plymouth and Carver.
For about two weeks in the direction of the top of Might, the bear was noticed in a city or metropolis practically on daily basis, and typically twice a day.
After a sighting in South Carver on Might 31, the bear didn’t appear to be noticed once more till June 11 when he made an look in a resident’s entrance yard in Newton Highlands.
The following morning, the bear induced Arlington Public Colleges to delay opening for an hour after it was seen strolling down a number of completely different roads. Later that day, it was noticed on Wilson Farm in Lexington.
When and the place the bear has been noticed
There aren’t alleged to be bears there
This isn’t the primary time lately {that a} black bear — the one bear species that calls Massachusetts dwelling — has been noticed within the southeastern a part of the state.
Final 12 months, a black bear — which is notably smaller and fewer aggressive than a grizzly — was seen wandering round Easton and Middleborough. Wattles stated MassWildlife doesn’t imagine final 12 months’s bear is identical one at the moment roaming the area.
Past these two bears, Wattles stated, MassWildlife has acquired studies of a handful of various bears in southeastern Massachusetts annually for the final a number of years.
However this area isn’t a part of the black bear inhabitants’s established vary, neither is it a part of their acknowledged increasing vary.
The bears’ established vary consists of areas the place researchers know reproducing females have taken up residence, Wattles stated. The increasing vary consists of areas the place researchers know males have taken up residence, however the place there usually are not as many females.
However Wattles stated the increasing vary on the map simply exhibits the more than likely locations the place bears will grow to be established. Arguably, he stated, each city in southeastern Massachusetts may very well be included within the increasing vary.
Why the bears are coming to southeastern Massachusetts
Whereas feminine bears have a tendency to remain nearer to their mom’s territory, typically selecting to not enterprise to the opposite aspect of a significant freeway, male bears need to set up new territory, Wattles stated. Younger male bears typically journey 50 to 100 miles away from the place they had been born throughout their first journey away from their moms. Establishing new territory permits them to keep away from competing with different male bears for dominance and meals.
Of their seek for meals, Wattles stated, they find yourself round individuals. It’s because individuals typically go away issues that bears see as meals exterior, together with chicken feeders, meals waste, compost, fruit timber and bushes, pet meals, beehives, and yard chickens.
“Bears are an animal that’s pushed by meals. And virtually each single bear in Massachusetts has realized that the best place to get simple meals is round individuals’s houses and companies,” he stated.
The bears are right here to remain
Whereas there are about 4 to five,000 black bears at the moment dwelling in Massachusetts, Wattles stated the bear inhabitants in Worcester County and close by Connecticut is rising.
Moreover, Wattles stated it’s potential that the male bears we’ve seen round southeastern Massachusetts over the previous few years will determine to grow to be everlasting residents.
Wattles stated that black bears used to reside all throughout Massachusetts, as much as the coast. However when European settlers got here, they decimated the black bear inhabitants by chopping down forests and turning them into farmland, and by searching bears for meals and safety.
Over time, Massachusetts’ black bear inhabitants was largely pushed again into the inside of the state, up into the northern Berkshires, Wattles stated. However within the late 1800s, the state started preserving forests, and in 1952, the state instituted restrictions on searching black bears.
By the Nineteen Seventies, the black bear inhabitants started to develop and unfold all through the state once more. Now, they’re simply spreading again out into their outdated stomping grounds.
Studying to reside with the bears
Since we are going to doubtless see an increasing number of black bears in japanese Massachusetts within the coming years, it’s necessary that we adapt to life with bears, Wattles stated.
“We’ve acquired bears dwelling in very developed areas in Western Massachusetts,” he stated. “They’re in yards, playgrounds, colleges, and neighborhoods each single day and with out incident.”
Wattles stated the largest change we have to make is guaranteeing we safe something that bears contemplate meals.
Methods to forestall bears from coming close to your private home or enterprise:
- Be certain all rubbish and compost bins have lids, usually are not overflowing, and don’t scent
- Use electrical fences to guard beehives and yard birds
- Clear grills completely earlier than placing them away
- Don’t miss meals scraps or pet meals
- Use water options and native crops to draw birds as a substitute of chicken feeders
Fortunately, bears don’t normally see cats and canines as meals, so having your pet in your yard shouldn’t entice bears. And in keeping with Wattles, nobody has ever been significantly injured by a bear in Massachusetts.
However most significantly, in case you see a bear, keep away. It’s unlawful to shoot bears in your property except it’s damaging your private home or belongings.
“Whereas black bears aren’t inherently aggressive in the direction of individuals, it’s necessary to keep in mind that it’s a giant and highly effective animal and to provide it house,” he stated.
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