Massachusetts Environmental Police were in New Bedford on Tuesday trying to convince a black bear — believed to be a two-year-old male — to make its way into the woods in the city’s far North End, with hopes it’s never to be seen again, at least not in a residential neighborhood.
“Our preference would be to let him go and do his thing,” said Mass. Environmental Police Lt. James Cullen at the dead end of Phillips Road on Tuesday, parked by a fenced-in field that leads to the woods the bear had disappeared into about an hour earlier.
The residential New Bedford sightings, which began Monday evening in the area of the New Bedford Regional Airport, are the latest in what has become a saga of sorts, with authorities believing it was the same bear that’s been spotted in Taunton, Freetown, Fall River and Dartmouth in recent days.
“On May 22nd, during the late afternoon hours, there were several sightings of a black bear walking through the neighborhoods to the north of the airport,” New Bedford police posted Tuesday morning, noting how it’s “uncommon to encounter black bears within the city limits.”
Then, according to Mass. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, at 9:25 a.m. Tuesday, Mass. State Police alerted MEP to a bear sighting near Rte. 140 southbound, where MEP arrived about five minutes later.
“MassWildlife believes the bear to be a two-year-old male,” said Mass. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Deputy Communications Director Danielle Burney in an email.
John Deburgo, a resident of the airport neighborhood, was at his home off of Mt. Pleasant Street Monday around 6:20 p.m. when he spotted the bear in his backyard and started filming.
“I just let it go about its way,” Deburgo said.
New Bedford Regional Airport Assistant Manager Mike Crane said local authorities paid the airport a visit Monday evening to alert staff of the visitor around their neck of the woods.
“Somebody stopped by and said we’re just making sure you’re aware a bear has been spotted in the area,” Crane said Tuesday morning. “In our perimeter checks we haven’t spotted the bear.”
No plans to capture peaceful bear
Cullen was one of the responders to arrive in New Bedford Tuesday just in time to see the bear cross Rte. 140 and make its way into a wooded area.
“As I was rolling up, he went across the median barrier and went into the woods, which is what we really want,” Cullen said.
According to Cullen, authorities have no plans to capture the bear; and despite it causing a stir when popping up in residential areas, it is not considered a safety threat.
“I wasn’t 10 feet away from the bear and he could have cared less that I was even there,” Cullen said of the action that unfolded in the Phillips Road neighborhood Tuesday, where Cullen said the bear had been roaming for about 2-and-a-half hours binging on one of bears’ favorite snacks: birdseed. “He finished the birdfeeder, looked at me, I looked at him, and he just went right by me into the next yard, climbed a fence and got another birdfeeder.”
The night before, Cullen said residents reported the bear had made its way into their garage where it enjoyed some ice cream it found in a freezer there.
“What we do is try to, what we call ‘haze’ them out of more populated areas. The problem is, they like the same things people do.”
After the bear made its exit into the nearby woods, Mass. Environmental Police remained on scene at the end of Phillips Road to keep an eye out.
“Now we’re just monitoring the situation,” he said. “So far this bear seems to like heading east, so my guess is he’s going to continue that way but that’s just speculation.”
What if the bear doesn’t leave?
In the event the bear winds up becoming too accustomed to residential neighborhood living, Cullen says “There are plans for that sort of thing, but we deal with that on a case by case basis.”
“If he was in a congested urban environment and people gather around and you get crowds, then for the bear’s safety we would tranquilize it and bring it somewhere generally better suited for bears,” he said.
A sign of the times?
Cullen and his colleagues on scene at Phillips Road Tuesday said dealing with a bear in New Bedford is a first for them. However, as bears’ natural habitat continues shrinking, Cullen says bear sightings may become more and more common in the region.
“Their population is going to be expanding and pretty soon bears are probably going to be more frequent sightings than we’re used to now,” he said. “Just like we have had to learn to live with coyotes, foxes, skunks and racoons, this is going to be something a little bit new for Southeastern Massachusetts.”
But just like people have generally done just fine with those other animals afoot, Cullen says more frequent bear sightings isn’t a reason to panic.
“They’re pretty docile. Most of the time they’re not interested in you,” he said. “The only time it really becomes a concern is if it’s a mother being defensive over some cubs.
“But that’s not the situation we have here at all — this is just a bear roaming around trying to find his place in the world.”
What to do if you see a bear
If a bear is in a very populated area, state authorities say to contact the Environmental Police Radio Room at 1-800-632-8075 or the nearest MassWildlife District Office to report the sighting and get advice.
Source: South Coast Today
