Latest sightings suggest Southeastern Mass. has two black bears roaming towns. Here's why.
NEW BEDFORD — Since reports of black bear sightings started popping up around the SouthCoast last month, state wildlife experts agreed it seemed apparent it was a single bear that was making its way through Taunton, Fall River, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Acushnet and Marion. But as of last week, the latest round of bear sightings seem to suggest Southeastern Mass. now has two black bears roaming through towns, with dual sightings confirmed in Lakeville and Carver on May 31.
"I still think all the sightings down south were one bear, but suddenly as it made its way into Plymouth, it seemed the sightings split," said David Wattles, a biologist for MassWildLife specializing in black bears and furbearers. "Even while the other bear was going around the New Bedford area ... we had a single sighting in Carver, but with all the hysteria at the time we thought it might have been a missighting."
Since the initial Carver sightings, Wattles said continued reports of the bear being spotted in both the Lakeville/Berkley and Carver/Plymouth areas seem to support that there are two black bears making the rounds.
"I'm assuming the one seen in Carver is the 'new' bear," Wattles said, although noting not all his colleagues are in agreement on who's who.
Get some background: After a busy morning in New Bedford, SouthCoast's black bear took a nap in Acushnet.
With state experts from MassWildLife having hypothesized that the black bear from the first round of sightings was a male around 1-2 years old, Wattles says they have similar thoughts on the probable second bear.
"I haven't seen photos to be able to gauge ... but generally speaking a young male is what we're anticipating," he said. "They're the ones that seem to make these dispersals."
Embracing black bear neighbors
As experts have suggested since this year's black bear sightings on SouthCoast began, it may be a sign of the times, as black bears' habitats in Southeastern Massachusetts continue shrinking.
"We kind of had this last year where we think 3-5 different bears at different points of the summer moved through different parts of Southeastern Massachusetts, so it's becoming a more regular thing," Wattles said.
"This is kind of what we anticipate seeing. We've seen elsewhere in the state as our populations spread you start to get this slow increase in sightings — males, eventually you get a female, and then that's when they're starting to get really established. So it's what we would anticipate, just more regular sightings in years to come."
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As noted by state experts at MassWildLife, May, June, and July are peak months for bear activity and reported conflicts with bears in Massachusetts, with June being the highest.
For the bears' and public's safety, MassWildLife advises people not to purposely follow, try to attract, or interact with any bear. For these reasons, state agencies have said they would no longer be providing direct information on the bears' whereabouts.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: 2nd Southeastern Mass. bear pops up in Carver
