Black Bear sighting in Holland

Black Bear sighted in Holland, MA.

If there is any form of excitement in town, James LaMountain isn’t far. This morning, Jimmy spotted a black bear walking on his dock along the shoreline of Hamilton Reservoir at his residence on 41 Lakeridge Drive.

He called his two sons Eric and Jake and also Lisa Marques, to see the bear.

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Black Bear sighted in Holland, MA.

Eventually the black bear climbed the tall tree where the pictures shown here were taken.

According to Cardoza who is with the state division of Wildlife & Fisheries, the black bear population has increased from 450 in the early 1980s to roughly 3000 when last calculated in 2005.
Blak Bear Claw marks on steps.
Bill Royal who is retired and lives at 33 Lakeridge Drive spotted claw marks on the steps to his house. Black Bear sighted in Holland, MA.
The bear seemed to be comfortable and was not in a hurry to go anywhere... Black Bear sighted in Holland, MA.
At 9:47 a.m., two officials from the Massachusetts Division of Wildlife & Fisheries arrived to assess the situation. Two officials from the Massachusetts Division of Wildlife & Fisheries arrive.
According to their website, Mass. Wildlife holds and manages an extraordinarily diverse system of wildlife management areas and sanctuaries designed to forever ensure the survival, health and viability of all our native wildlife communities.
As of July 2009, over 165,000 acres of land is in the care and control of MassWildlife. With 6 million people on 5 million acres, space for wildlife and people is at a premium. Wild things are sustained by wild places. We cannot retain our rich variety of wildlife if we do not preserve places for them to live.

The cub was estimated to be just over one year of age, probably male, and looking to find a place to call his own. This is classically when cubs separate from their mothers. When we asked the officials what they will do to get the bear down, the two officials response was, “not much, because the reality is that the bear will eventually comedown on his own go back into the woods.”

Officer Eric Stanley from the Holland Police Department was also on the scene, what a nice and smart guy! As part time officer, he was sworn in on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Officer Stanley introduced himself to the voters present at the continuing town meeting on June 18, 2009. Brian, good choice! I hope you will be the new Chief of Police... for good, and not just as interim!

As everybody left and gave the bear a chance to disappear, the bear was gone around 12:30 p.m.

July 31, 2009, pictures by Dana Manning, text by Peter Frei