More and more black bears are being spotted across Massachusetts. MassWildlife said the animals are currently in their mating season and will be until mid-July. 

Stacey Fitzgibbons-Berube of Rutland, MA shared video of a bear visiting her home in the north part of town. MassWildlife said the state’s black bear population is growing and expanding further east. They said the public can take proactive steps to live alongside the animals and not give the bears an opportunity to learn bad habits. 

MassWildlife’s Meghan Crawford, “So a big piece of that ni not having food easily available in our backyards. Bears are opportunistic omnivores, which really just means we’ll eat a whole lot of anything and this includes bird seed from feeders. Number one attractant. Why? They’re coming into people’s backyards. So make sure to take down those bird feeders. And then secondly, the second most important thing is to secure any livestock you might have like backyard chickens by installing effective and well maintained electric fencing to keep bears out.”

MassWildlife said the state’s black bear population is between 4,500 and 5,000 bears. They encourage people to visit their website to learn more on how to keep yourself, your pets and the bears themselves safe.