BOSTON — Great white sharks aren’t the only apex predators that are being seen more frequently around the region.
The black bear population in Massachusetts is continuing to grow and expand east of Interstate 495, according to Bay State bear researchers who urge people to take precautionary measures to avoid encounters with the powerful animals.
There are now about 5,000 black bears that call the state home as the large mammal’s population has slowly increased over the last 50 years, black bear biologist Dave Wattles told the Boston Herald last week. In the mid-1970s, the Massachusetts black bear population was estimated at under 100 individuals.
While people living in western Massachusetts have been coexisting with bears for years, residents in the eastern part of the state — in more densely populated communities — are seeing bears much more often.
