No scare with bears in East Longmeadow

Date: 12/20/2010

Dec. 20, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW -- The only bears town residents should be worried about seeing are a computer generated Yogi and Boo Boo swiping picnic baskets on the big screen.

According to East Longmeadow Police Chief Doug Mellis, any rumors of a bear in town appear to be just that.

"Someone apparently had put something on our Facebook page and someone talked to one of our officers about the possibility of a deer carcass that appeared to have been attacked by a bear," Mellis explained. "But chances are it was coyotes."

No official report was ever filed regarding a bear sighting within the town limits, he added.

The last time a bear was seen in East Longmeadow was more than a year ago when officers observed two bears -- presumed to be an adult and a cub -- sometime during the late summer in 2009, according to Mellis.

"It was in a wooded area near the Suffield line off of Pease Road," Mellis said. "There have been no other reports."

Mellis said that if any residents see a bear in the area, they can contact either the local police department or the state environmental police any time of the day or night at 800-632-8075.

While the perception is that American black bears are hibernating by now, it is not unheard of for bears to be out and about this time of year.

"This is a swing season for bears," Tom Lautzenheiser, the central/western regional scientist for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, said. "They usually den down in late November or early December, but given the lack of substantial snow and the availability of food because we had a very good acorn harvest this season, they could still be around."

But Mellis said that he does not believe residents have any cause for alarm.

"I find it rare that a bear in this area would even attack, unless it was provoked," he said. "And short of a bear attacking someone, we would defer to the environmental police."

According to the MassWildlife Web site, the first instinct of the black bear is to run away in most instances. Bears usually only attack when people "tease or closely approach bears."

Lautzenheiser said the situations in which most people have problems with bears is "when they become habituated to people."

"If people feed the birds and bears find out about the feeders, they could have a problem," he said, "Bears will also go through people's trash outside if it's not properly secured. Those are probably the two most common reasons why a bear would come into a suburban area."

In these cases, Lautzenheiser, who has encountered bears in his backyard in Easthampton, urges people not to confront the animal.

"When I see bears in my yard, I make noise to indicate to the bear that it is not wanted there," Lautzenheiser said. "I would recommend not to approach it or seem like you are challenging it."

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