Did a Black Bear Roam New Bedford This Week?

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Did a black bear wake up from its hibernation a little early and traipse around New Bedford’s North End earlier this week?

Mystery Tracks Appear Near Pine Grove Cemetery

Photos of tracks in the snow that were discovered in the area just north of Pine Grove Cemetery certainly look similar to bear prints.

Social Media Speculation Points to a Bear

An employee of a business in the area posted photos on social media, and most of the commenters agreed the tracks looked like those of a black bear. The employee told WBSM that he spoke with professional hunters, including one who serves as a guide for black bear hunts, and they also thought they looked like bear tracks.

Wildlife Biologist Questions the Evidence

However, Dave Wattles, Black Bear & Furbearer Biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, told WBSM “it’s really hard to say” if the tracks belong to a bear or not.

“Snow can do very misleading things to tracks as it melts and settles,” he said. “They aren’t definitively bear and not definitively not bear.”

Wattles said that one thing of note was that the paw “didn’t sink in at all” when imprinting in the snow.

“There is a depth of snow there, if you look right next to the fence you can tell that,” he said. “Makes me think it was something smaller and the tracks have now melted out to look larger.”

READ MORE: The Largest Black Bear in Massachusetts Weighed This Much

MassWildlife has a handy webpage to provide information on black bears in Massachusetts.

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Wattles also said he had not received any reports of bears down here on the SouthCoast this year. He said such a report “would be surprising if a bear was up and about in winter.”

New Bedford Zoo Bears Make Rare Winter Appearance

However, the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford did post a video to its Facebook page on Thursday morning showing its black bears Moose and Oona making “a rare winter appearance, emerging from their den to investigate the fresh snowfall.”

“American Black Bears don’t fully hibernate. Instead, they enter a state of torpor, a lighter sleep marked by reduced activity and slowed metabolism,” the zoo pointed out.

READ MORE: Here Is Where You Are Most Likely to Encounter a Black Bear in MA