New neighbors...

[corwyn]

I was weeding the front lawn of my house the other evening when a black bear cub wandered across the street about 10 yards from me. Here's the article from the paper:


Worcester Telegram & Gazette News

Is dinner ready yet?

Bears prowl porch, munch bird food

By Emily Groves SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

WORCESTER— Two black bears, a cub and an adult assumed to be its mother, are making their way around the Coes Pond area, visiting mischief upon at least one area resident and eluding officials searching for them.

“He absolutely destroyed the squirrel-proof bird feeder,” said Betsy Sargisson, a Botany Bay Apartments resident who took photographs of a cub pawing at a bird feeder on her deck. “But then again, it didn’t say that it was bear-proof.”

The bears were seen early Tuesday in the Circuit Avenue area, and then again about 3 p.m. in the Botany Bay Road area off June Street, according to Derek S. Brindisi, acting director of public health. Health officials were working with state police and officers from the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The search continued until dark Tuesday but the bears were nowhere to be found.


About 7 Tuesday evening, Ms. Sargisson found the cub dismantling the bird feeder on her deck, which is about 15 feet from the ground. The cub pawed at the feeder, knocking it from a pole. It eventually climbed onto a railing.

Ms. Sargisson banged on the glass door leading out to the deck to try and scare off the cub, but he paid her no attention. She waited until the next morning to call Animal Control because darkness was setting in and she did not think a search would be useful.

At the apartment complex yesterday afternoon, residents seemed much more concerned with the location of the cub’s mother than the possible danger of having bears in the neighborhood.

“Everyone keeps asking me, ‘Where’s the momma?’ and I tell them I don’t want to know!” Ms. Sargisson said.

Mr. Brindisi, of public health, said yesterday that the search had been suspended until there is another sighting.

William J. Davis, district manager for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, recommended that residents treat the bears “like you would treat a 200-pound skunk.”

He advised residents to secure trash in tight receptacles, remove pet and bird food from outside and, most important, avoid any contact with the bears.

The sightings Tuesday are the latest in June bear sightings in recent years.

In June 2003, two bears, one of which was black, were tranquilized and relocated just days apart from along Hope Avenue.

In June 2002, police shot a black bear on Mendon Street, after officials grew impatient waiting hours for tranquilizers to arrive.

According to Mr. Davis, the rural areas outside of Worcester are “prime bear habitats,” and with growing bear populations, sightings within the city are only going to become more common.

Officials ask residents to call Animal Control at (508) 799-1211 if the bears are seen.

[CMT]

Grizzly Miyagishima?

[corwyn]

The scary part is that I was thinking that it was quiet enough around that I could let the dogs into the front yard (outside of the fence) with me. But I'm glad I didn't, since the bear showed up not five minutes later... I shudder to think of what would have happened if the girls had gone after him.

[CMT]

Yeah, screw that. If the mother was anywhere nearby...it would have been bad x 432535345345

[Neel]

wow thats crazy.

[WRX-04]

My parents have had to take down their bird feeders because they got fubared (fubeared?) by bears twice. The bear even managed to bend the 1" diameter pipe one of the feeders used as a stand. Even better, both feeders were only 10' from the sliding glass doors on the back of the house.

[3rd One]

my parents see them all the time where they live in Princeton, MA.

I have never seen one.