The Suburban Odyssey of the #BrooklineBear
Black bear sightings from Medfield to Newton.
A black bear that was spotted as far away as Medfield and Walpole on Saturday, then in Westwood and Dedham over the weekend may be the same bear that state Environmental Police were tracking through Newton and Brookline on Monday.
While it's unclear if it is the same bear, Patch has been following the news as Environmental Police and local police track the bear, which appears to have headed west from Medfield into Newton and, finally, into Brookline.
- Medfield: Saturday morning, the bear was spotted in the areas of Granite Street, South Street, Indian Hill Road and Orchard Street.
- Norwood: Saturday night bear sightings were reported in the areas of Churchill Drive, Iverness Road, Cypress Street, and Norwest Woods.
- Dedham: Bear sightings also were reported Sunday near Legacy Place in Dedham, as well as in parts of Walpole,according to a MyFoxBoston.com report. Sunday night, Dedham Police activated the town's emergency response system to notify residents by phone of the sightings.
- Needham: A black bear was spotted Monday on the Newton/Needham line. Needham also notified all its residents.
- Newton: Later on Monday, in the evening, another bear sighting was reported on the Newton/Brookline line near Skyline Park.
- Brookline: By Monday night, Brookline Police and state Environmental Police had tracked the bear to the area near the Baker School in Chestnut Hill, then the bear was spotted heading toward Francis Ryan Circle in Brookline. Early on Tuesday, June 26, the bear was tranquilized by Environmental Police around 9:45 a.m. after the bear was tracked to a tree on Pine Road.
The bear also found his way onto Twitter, where @BrooklineBear promised to update us with his location so fans can send him flowers (and salmon).
In addition to the bear, state Environmental Police with Wellesley Police were also tracking a moose that was spotted in the Parker Road neighborhoods of Wellesley Monday afternoon. The moose ended up in a swampy area off Lexington Road.
Phew — that's a lot of large animal sightings in the area. Did you see the bear or moose over the weekend or early this week? What kind of animals have you spotted in the area this summer? Moose, coyotes, bears — oh my? Tell us of your brush with wildlife.
David M.
11:30 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The bear has been identified by a tag on his ear, which means that he can only be identified when he is captured. In Medfield or Dedham no one could get close enough to him to see his tag, and confirm who he was. It is very interesting that no bear was signed directly west of Needham, such as in Framingham or Natick. Instead there are reports of bear sightings in: Walpole, Medfield, Rt 109 or Rt. 1 Dedham, 2nd Street Needham, and finally his capture on Woodland Road/Pine Street in Brookline. If you look at the open spaces, wooded areas, and wetlands, you can see that this is a very understandable path for one "more-expeditious-than-the-average-bear" late adolescent bear.
I doubt we will hear of a bear in the boston area in the next few days. And if you see a young handsome bear thumbing on Rt. 9 in Central Mass, drive on by!