The 2012 Chelmsford Area Bear Map
Your guide to tracking bear sightings in the Chelmsford area.
Earlier this year, a family of bears were sighted in Westford, and since then Patch has been getting updates on their locations from members of the community.
In the past day or two, we've learned that the bears might be here in Chelmsford, so we've decided to bring the map across the border to include bear sightings from here in town and all points in the West of Lowell suburbs.
We'll update the map above every week or so with information provided by you here in the comments section.
If you see the bears, don't approach them. Mention your incident here and remember the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife rules for peaceful co-existence with bears...
If you are able to take a picture of the bears from a safe distance, please share it with us by clicking the "Upload Photos and Videos" button. Our goal here is to provide a forum where residents can keep appraised of the location of the bears and become informed about their presence in our community.
Jody Klenk
9:15 am on Sunday, November 4, 2012
Where is the link to the map? If I click on the link in the story above, it just brings me back to the article.
Andrew Sylvia
9:25 am on Sunday, November 4, 2012
Jody, the map is up there above the pictures.
Donna Reed
10:08 am on Sunday, November 4, 2012
All of God's creatures need to eat. Bears don't prowl for "people"...I would suspect they are coming out of the wooded Conservation area that borders along the Spaulding and Horshoe Road areas. If I were concerned, I might consider taking an old pan or bucket and filling it with bird seed, (or whatever ELSE they like to eat) and place it as FAR back on my property line as possible. This MIGHT keep them away from homes AND bird feeders.....I'm pretty sure the experts would tell you NOT to feed them, but I also know that most of us keep our bird feeders pretty close to our homes. If they're going to come anyway, I"d prefer to keep them as distant as possible....
I Care
7:45 am on Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Donna, as well-meaning as your suggestion is, there's a term for what you described. It's called a "feeding station". Feeding stations are used to encourage animals to STAY in the area - an area much larger than the distance from your house to your property line. And bears don't just eat seeds and honey. They like small furry animals (like our pets), fruit, whatever's in your trash barrel, ...
The right thing to do for everybody's safety (including your own) is put away your bird feeders until the beginning of December, when the bears are finally hibernating. There's plenty of natural food around for the birds at this time of year, so they'll be fine, too.
Stanley E Cederberg
7:58 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
No such address as 1 Bayberry Road in Westford...
Andrew Sylvia
8:35 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
Bayberry Road is located right off Pine Ridge Road. And Google Maps disagrees with you in there being a 1 Bayberry Road.
I can't recall who reported that one, but a lot of folks don't want their addresses in there, I ask for general areas, but when I can't get that and it's a small street, I just put 1 as a generic number, just so the map will work.
Donna Reed
9:35 am on Tuesday, November 6, 2012
To "I Care"...thank you. It really didn't occur to me that my suggestion would simply be giving them a DIFFERENT feeding station. I actually thought I was offering a "solution"..... I was simply thinking that if they are going to come ANYWAY...let's try and keep them as far away from our homes as possible.
Your suggestion makes a LOT more sense than mine did. Thank you for correcting me.