Amherst bear caught after downtown ramble

BY Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on September 11, 2007

A black bear was tranquilized and relocated after rambling on the loose near downtown Amherst for more than an hour Monday afternoon after it was first spotted walking through the Amity Place neighborhood.

At around 2 p.m. Monday, Amherst Police received a call regarding a black bear roaming near Lincoln Avenue, North Pleasant Street, and McClellan Street. Police Sgt. William Menard, the incident commander, said the bear was tracked from Amity Place to Lincoln Avenue, where it ripped down a bird feeder in the back yard at 209 Lincoln Ave. and laid down for nearly half-an-hour.

Menard said the police were worried because the bear was in a thickly settled neighborhood near the downtown business district and the University of Massachusetts.

'We're concerned about any confrontations with the community,' Menard said.

The adult male bear was estimated at weighing between 150 and 170 pounds.

Environmental police got to the scene at around 2:45 p.m., when the bear began making its way south toward Amity Street.

Several streets were blocked off by both Amherst and University of Massachusetts police and the Department of Public Works while the bear was being tracked by environmental police. The bear was located and secured in an area located off of McClellan Street about an hour-and-a-half after police first responded.

According to police, environmental officers were able to tranquilize the bear and relocate him to an undisclosed locale, described by police as a 'more appropriate location in woodland.'

Menard said the goal was to make sure the bear was not hurt during the pursuit, even though police officers did have weapons with them.

'We'd like to let it walk off by itself,' Menard said.