AMHERST — A mother black bear and her three cubs roaming through neighborhoods south of the University of Massachusetts campus have made themselves a constant presence for the past several weeks.

The bears’ foray into a Blue Hills Road backyard in late January was the first time Bette Kanner got to see them up close, and Kanner calls the experience of observing them near her home “totally thrilling.”

At a nearby residence, Mike Giles saw the bears on his patio and getting to the bird feeder one day, as well as scaling a wall to get at suet.

“We had bears take down our feeder last year, so it wasn't a total shock,” Giles said. “But I was surprised that they were up and about during the winter months.”

With mild temperatures and little snow cover, Animal Welfare Officer Carol Hepburn said the mother bear and her cubs may be more active than usual.

A neighborhood group disseminating information about the bears shows that on Jan. 23 they made off with a bird feeder on Amity Place, the following day got food outside a Blue Hills Road home, and on Jan. 25 were in a Charles Lane yard. By Feb. 1, they had moved closer to the UMass campus and center of town, with residents on Cosby Avenue and Paige Street snapping photos of them.

Emergency dispatchers also received several calls about the family, with the bears being spotted spending one night near the Center for Extended Care and later that same day heading through an Amity Street yard.

While suburban bears can den during the winter, Dave Wattles, a state black bear biologist with the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, said a reliable source of food can keep the bears active.

Wattles said the mother bear has a tracking collar on and is the same animal that, for three or four years, has considered the neighborhoods off University Drive part of her territory. Wattles said she gave birth to four cubs last winter, but lost one along the way.

He doesn’t anticipate they will move too far from their current habitat, though they have made it as far as North East Street and likely passed through the area of Wildwood School. He said no one should be overly concerned about their presence. “The risk is very very minimal,” Wattles said.

In fact, there have been no interactions between the bears and people or pets. The main reason people appeared to be calling police, Hepburn said, has been worry for the welfare of one of the cubs, which sustained an injury of unknown origin.

“The main concern is a baby who has a hurt back leg,” Hepburn said.

Wattles said the first reports of the cub limping came to his office in mid-December. “It’s pretty common, often the result of motor vehicle collisions,” Wattles said.

Still, people shouldn’t fear for its health and well being. “We have found they have an amazing capacity to deal with injuries and are highly confident that the bear will survive,” Wattles said.

The cubs will remain with their mother for several more months before going off on their own when breeding season begins in June. Even then the cub, which currently weighs between 60 and 80 pounds, should be able to climb trees and find food on its own, and that no predators are going to cause it harm. Even with the coyote population surging, those animals will not go after bears.

Hepburn’s advice is for homeowners to reduce the source of food. “People are normally putting out their bird feeders, but we’re asking them to take them down until she moves out of the area,” Hepburn said.

There is also advice from the state available at www.Mass.gov/bears. 

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>