Marion Gets a Visit From the Bear on Its Way to Plymouth

MARION (WBSM) — Another day, another bear report on the SouthCoast – today coming to you from the quaint town of Marion.

If last week was all about Taylor Swift here in Massachusetts, this week is about black bears, at least down here in Bristol and now Plymouth Counties. Bear sightings in Mansfield, Taunton, Assonet, Fall River, Dartmouth, New Bedford, New Bedford again, Acushnet, Mattapoisett and now Marion led us to create the SouthCoast Bear Tracker interactive map.

As bear sightings become more frequent, people are ready with their cell phone cameras to capture photos and videos (without getting too close, of course).

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Earlier today, a bear was reported in the area of Converse Road. While some photos made their way online, it was a video that was shared that gave us some insight into the bear’s personality.

In the video, it appears the bear is meandering through some yards; it apparently toppled over a plant hanger or some kind of yard light, but nothing too serious.

Two police officers approach wearing bulletproof vests – while it’s unlikely he’s exercising his “right to bear arms,” the vests could protect against the bear’s claws – and one of them is carrying a tranquilizer gun.

You can see one of the officers set up to take a shot as the bear turns back in the direction of the officers, curiously glancing at what they might be up to. Once he sees what the officer who is crouching down has in mind, though, he wants no part of it and turns around and heads back in the other direction.

We’re not sure exactly where the bear headed next, but we do know where he’s been:

Wareham Police Chief Walter Correia told WBSM News that there were no reports of the bear in that town.

Our friend who runs the Southeastern Mass. Alerts Twitter account tweeted at 4:16 p.m. today that it “sounds like the Bristol County bear is in Plymouth now.”