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There’s nothing that can get the blood pumping quite like waking up to multiple school alerts of a bear sighting in your neighborhood and calls to keep your kid at home after you think she's already left. Thankfully, texts flying across a friend chat group kept her from heading to school. I kept peering outside my windows to see if I could catch a bear sighting. Nothing so far, but the sounds of helicopters circling the area are loud and insistent.
According to Mass.gov, there are around 4,500 black bears in Massachusetts, and their population is growing and spreading eastward. Lucky us. I have seen wild turkeys, foxes, coyotes, and had a terrifying racoon encounter* in our sleepy little suburb, but I’ve never seen a black bear. According to this Boston.com article from 2022, there has apparently been an explosion in the black bear population in Massachusetts (a Mass Audubon statistic puts the population increase at 8% per year!), which has resulted in a large increase in sightings of these wild animals in residential neighborhoods. The Boston.com article points to laws outlawing the hunting of bears as well as reforestation and conservation efforts as some of the various factors behind the population boom.
So, of course, we must now learn to live with these massive omnivores. They are beautiful in their power and wildness, and black bears will mostly leave unknown areas and situations peacefully. Thankfully, black bears are not as aggressive as other bear species. Apparently, brown bears, of which Grizzlies are a type, are extremely aggressive, but given that black bears are far more populous in the US, it would be good to understand how to live with them if you happen to be in an area where they’re moving into.
The Mass.gov site has a helpful PDF for tips to live with them, including:
Avoiding the use of bird feeders. Did you know that black bears also like the food left in these contraptions, and they have great long-term memories? If you provide them with a tasty menu item, they’ll remember your backyard restaurant and will keep coming back.
Keeping your trash contained. Just like the nighttime racoon, bears aren’t fine food connoisseurs. If they smell food in your garbage, and it’s not secured, guess who’s showing up for dinner at your house?
Making a lot of noise if you see a black bear. These bears don’t like things they don’t know. Make a lot of noise, and they will most likely leave. However, given their population boom and the fact that they are becoming more familiar and comfortable with residential areas, you’ll most likely want to avoid them and call in the authorities when you spot one.
I’m thankful for messaging apps; my daughter got the message from her friends about the free-roaming black bear and smartly stayed home until school opened for the day. As our own population booms, we’re going to have to learn to live with black bears, and I’m going to make sure that my trash can is appropriately clamped shut right now!
*A few years ago, I took my trash out late at night; why then? Who knows. I was in my pajamas and wearing flip-flops and waving my iPhone flashlight in front of me as I walked down my long driveway to our trash barrels. When I got to the bottom of the driveway, my flashlight picked up two red pinpoints of light that were sitting close together in the darkness above the barrels. I stopped, large trash bag in hand.
They were eyes.
In my head, I knew that they belonged to some racoon that was probably trying to figure out a way to open up the garbage can. In my heart, it was some evil demon waiting for its trash sacrifice. Ok, no it wasn’t. I waved my phone around and yelled “shooo!” The eyes just stared back, unwavering. No movement. We had a stare down for a few moments, and the trash panda won the showdown. I wasn’t about to wrangle with that beast, so I slowly flip-flopped my way back into the house with the garbage to wait until morning. Sigh.
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