WESTFORD — Black bears are slowly making their comeback in Massachusetts, which means even more bears will be venturing into backyards.
These adaptable animals are taking advantage of the natural woods and areas in Westford to find food, but are also going to bird feeders and unsecured garbage for easy snacks, said Dave Wattles, a black bear and furbearer biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, which is also known as MassWildlife.
Wattles said it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how many bears live in Westford because their range can extend over several towns and up into New Hampshire, but the estimates are that Massachusetts has about 4,500 black bears. By comparison, Vermont has an estimated 6,800 to 8,600, based on newly released 2024 data, and Maine has between 24,000 and 36,000 black bears, according to the state’s website.
Westford and the nearby towns are the farthest east that black bears extend in the state because of major highways, Wattles said, adding Westford falls into the established range of black bears in the state.
“We’re just kind of continuing to see the slow recovery of our long-term bear population,” Wattles said. “We do get reports of females with cubs, and we are regularly trapping and tagging males each year. There’s a bunch of bears around.”
The photo at the top of this article of a black bear in a low blueberry bush in Massachusetts was submitted by MassWildlife. Photo credit: Bill Byrne.
The WestfordCAT recently published an article on the Wildlife of Westford Facebook group. The group’s founder, Mark Thomas, said 10 to 12 years ago it was rare to capture a bear on camera in Westford, but today he knows people who see bears every day.
Wattles explained how bears find their neighborhood: At about 18 months, young bears take off on their own, leaving their mother for good. Then, they establish a territory called a “home range.” Bears don’t actively defend a home range like other animals, so sometimes their home ranges overlap.
Typically, females will establish a home range that overlaps with their mother’s home range. So female bears born in Westford will stay in Westford. But male bears born in Westford could move up to New Hampshire or other places.
The growth of the Westford population is determined by females establishing themselves in the area because they tend to stay, Wattles explained. This past year, a team member of the bear monitoring project of MassWildlife trapped and a placed a collar on a young female bear around the Westford area, the first female they had collared in a while, he said. The female bear’s range extends up to Hollis, New Hampshire, he said.
Because bears do not have any natural predators in the area and can live a long time, once they are established, their population will increase, Wattles said. There is a hunting season to regulate the population, he added.
Kirsten Hirschler, animal control officer for Westford, said she averages about two calls a week from people seeing bears who are alarmed. “A lot of people moved here from the city and are blown away by the monstrosity of these animals and how close they get to houses,” she said.
She said some of the photos of the bears she has seen in the past few years show very large bears, including one caught on camera at the Westford Community Gardens and others by power lines.
Bear Safety
Bird feeders are like fast food for bears, Wattles said. “Bird feeders, unfortunately, train bears and other wildlife that the best place to find food is around homes,” he said.
When bears become trained to visit bird feeders and garbage, the chance of encounters with people and pets can increase, Wattles said.
This year, what concerns Hirschler most is an increase in calls for reporting people who are intentionally feeding bears by putting out bags of corn, peanuts and apples. Hirschler said intentionally feeding bears is not safe. She agrees that bird feeders also attract bears, even if they are taken in at night because the food can spill onto the ground.
The trend of people increasingly keeping backyard animals, such as chickens and beehives, is also attracting bears, Wattles said. “We are seeing a large increase over the past five to 10 years of bears killing chickens, bees and other livestock,” he said. “If you have 20 chickens, they can be gone in a night.”
Electric fencing is recommended to keep bears out of chicken coops.
Unfortunately, there are no bird feeders that can outsmart bears. “Bears are really smart and exceptionally strong, too,” Wattles said
He recommends that people set up bird baths and clean them regularly, and plant native flowers and fruit bushes if they want birds to come to their yard.
Bear Safety Tips
- Never intentionally feed bears
- Remove bird feeders
- Secure garbage
- Keep compost enclosed
- Use electric fencing to protect chickens, sheep and livestock
- Keep dogs on a leash and check your yard before letting pets out
- If a bear enters your yard, wait until it leaves. Then, remove and secure food.
- If you encounter a bear in nature, talk in a calm voice and slowly back away. Do not run.
- Fight back if a black bear makes contact with you.
Source: MassWildlife
