I have lived here mostly all of my life. Yet, my sightings of black bears in Massachusetts over the last five years have gone from ZERO to two. We have all seen those wild pictures on our social media. Bears in the garbage, bears in a backyard.
The most famous recent headline we all saw: Maine woman punches bear.
When she heard a noise in her backyard, she was horrified to see a bear chasing her dog! The brave doggy mommy reacted fast and got in the middle of her dog and the bear, and stopped the big boy by punching him. The brave woman was injured, but she is ok as is her dog. It’s not often we see stories like that. But we are seeing more and more increases of black bear sightings in our state.
Can We Get Help?
The Mass.Gov website is a great resource of information on how the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is dealing with this growing issue:
Though Massachusetts is the third most densely-populated state in the country, black bears have been increasing in numbers and distribution since the 1970s. The statewide population of bears is estimated to be over 4,500 animals and is growing and expanding eastward.
Actual Sightings
Living in Metro West, we have had two instances of seeing TWO baby bears, and a grown mother RIGHT walking through our yard and crossing the street. The babies made a crying noise, and the mother was not far behind them, making sure they crossed safely. It was the show of show for our cats. Another time, on a back road wooded area, we saw a similar site. There were two baby bears, and mom, making sure they crossed safely. We never felt any danger. It truly is sight to see.
Mass.gov on shares some very helpful tips on how to prepare our yards to avoid any contact with the bears and keep the peace!
So, let’s take a wildlife walk on how to prepare and hopefully avoid the increasing sightings of black bears in Massachusetts!