Rambling black bear spotted again today on Cape

By Colin A. Young

May 30, 2012

2 minutes to read

He’s definitely not your average bear.

The itinerant black bear that has been lumbering through backyards and cranberry bogs on Cape Cod has been spotted again, this time in Yarmouth, police said.

Several residents reported seeing the bear in the area of Center Street this morning, said Deputy Police Chief Steven G. Xiarhos. Police then responded to a string of sightings along Route 6A East toward the Bass River Rod and Gun Club, he said. The bear was not located; police said it appeared to be heading into the town of Dennis.

“Yarmouth police officers were unable to locate the bear and there have been no further reports in the town of Yarmouth,’’ Xiarhos said in a statement.

The wandering animal was first sighted on the Cape Sunday night off Route 6A in Barnstable, according to Barnstable police. The bear was ambling along behind houses near the woods, but did not approach any people during its evening stroll, Officer James Melia told the Globe Sunday.

He said the sighting was rare for Cape Cod, as bears are not indigenous to the area.

The bear most likely swam across the Cape Cod Canal, a feat that would be fairly easy for a bear if the tide were mostly flat, state wildlife officials said Tuesday.

“The most likely scenario is that it swam across the canal,’’ Jason Zimmer, the southeast district manager for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, said Tuesday. “There is a pretty strong current there, but if it were close to a flat tide, it would be absolutely no problem.’’

Zimmer said the bear, believed to be a 2½-year-old male, has been of interest to wildlife officials since last July, when it first appeared in the Attleboro area.

“We suspect it is the same bear that has been in Southeastern Mass. for almost a year now, primarily hanging around the Middleborough and Rochester area,’’ he said. “When he first showed up last July, we were hearing about him almost weekly throughout Bristol and Plymouth County. On April 2, we got the first report of him this year.’’