Second Black Bear Spotted Roaming North Shore

DANVERS, MA — The North Shore may still be in the bear market after all.

Ten days after the black bear that was believed to be the one seen passing through Danvers, Woburn and other North Shore communities was literally caught robbing a chicken coop in North Reading, another bear was spotted barreling through Middleton on Wednesday.

Middleton police said on Thursday that a team from the environmental police was tracking the bear in the Kenny Road and Shipley Court area about 2:40 p.m. As of 4:45 p.m., police said the "bear has been sighted moving off into deeper woods and officials are standing down at this time."

Police warned residents to keep children and pets inside while the bear was suspected to still be in the area.

MassWildlife separately warned in a recent article that drought conditions could prompt an uptick in bear sightings as bears push deeper into residential areas looking for food.

While North Reading police thought they had caught "the bear" on Aug. 22, it turns out it may have been just one of multiple bears making their way through the North Shore.

"While believed to be the same bear seen in numerous Middlesex County and Essex County communities in the past few weeks, residents are urged to remain vigilant as authorities have no way of ascertaining that fact, as black bears are native to the area and multiple bears are spotted in the area each year," North Reading police allowed in a statement at the time.

Police shared multiple tips to stay safe from bears. Those can be seen here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)