Overview
- Video captured a young male black bear moving through yards and trying to scale a stone retaining wall near Doherty Memorial High School on Thursday as police and environmental officers followed.
- Authorities responded to 911 calls after staff at Winter Hill Rest Home and nearby residents reported the bear crossing property, climbing a tree, and appearing in backyards.
- Officials believe the animal is a recently independent male weighing about 120 pounds and they reported no injuries after the bear later made its way back into nearby woods.
- Environmental Police and MassWildlife are actively monitoring the bear and advise residents to keep distance, secure attractants, and report sightings to the proper authorities.
- The sighting highlights how mating-season dispersal can send juvenile bears into urban edges and underscores the local protocol of nonlethal monitoring unless the animal becomes a clear danger.