Springtime bear sightings continue to occur throughout town, prompting police to remind residents to use caution and common sense if they encounter the wild animals.
A family of bears makes a beeline for a tree at a Lavoie Avenue home in Ludlow last month.LUDLOW — It's not unusual for black bears to be spotted in Ludlow, a town with densely populated residential and commercial districts and more rural sections to the north and east. But the frequency of sightings, particularly in suburban areas, over the past few weeks has led to online discussions and Facebook postings.
The most recent daylight sighting happened late Saturday afternoon on Reservoir Road, just off Center Street, when a mother and her 15-year-old son spotted a bruin wandering across a residential lawn before darting into nearby woods. Over the past few weeks, sightings have been reported along stretches of Chapin, Fuller and Holyoke streets and Lavoie and Napolean avenues, among other local roads.
Public safety officials say there is little to worry about, so long as people leave the bears alone. "Take a break from the feeders. Stop putting bird seed out in your feeders; that's the biggest draw for them," Ludlow Police Lt. Paul Madera said Monday.
Madera said some residents deliberately feed bears so they can take photographs of the large animals, which is not a good idea. "It's that time of season where the bears are going to be out looking for food," he said. "Staying away from them is the smartest thing to do."
If a bear becomes a so-called nuisance bear, one that does not scare easily or repeatedly comes in contact with humans, that can be bad news for the bear. In those cases, MassWildlife officials and Massachusetts Environmental Police generally try to relocate the problem animal to a less populated area.
"We have sightings throughout the town," Madera said, including in the more rural, heavily wooded northern sections of Ludlow. People should use caution and common sense and head inside their homes if they encounter a bear, he said.