Black bear in Chestnut Hill

Black bear

  I opened my Newton Tab this morning expecting the same sleepy news, when I see a picture of a large black bear up in a tree in Chestnut Hill. On Tuesday morning residents on Pine Road off Hammond Street (just to the southeast of Hammond Pond) noticed the black bear running through the yard before climbing a tree. MassWildlife decided due to the bear's location in a highly populated area that they would tranquilize the bear and remove it to western Massachusetts. Fortunately the bear was quite lucky to hit some branches and land in a bush to break his fall. It has been reported that he survived without injury.

They later discovered that this was the same bear that had been captured on Cape Cod and moved to central Massachusetts. Initial sightings of black bears in the area come from the south end of Cutler Park. Then, as Suzette noted, a bear was seen across the Charles from Nahanton Park. If it is the same bear, then it probably crossed into Newton before heading into Brookline. My only encounter with black bears has been deep in the Appalachian Mountains (which is where I took this picture) so it makes this bear in our backyards that much more exciting. While we do not frequently have bears, black bears are known to be residents in northern Middlesex. Hopefully this means that the population of bears is doing well as black bears and people are able to co-exist as they tend not to be violent.

If you are interested here are some links to local news stories that have video and pictures.
Newton Tab - With pictures and video
Boston Globe  - A nice article about what they should have done better to protect the bear.
CBS Local  - With pictures and video
Map of black bear sightings . While we don't know that all these sightings are necessarily the same bear it is fun to speculate about his path nonetheless.