Crime & Safety

MA Man Charged After Killing Bear Feeding In His Backyard

The mother bear was surrounded by her cubs when state Environmental Police went to the man's Worcester County home.

ASHBURNHAM, MA — A Worcester County man is facing multiple charges after he killed a bear with a bow and arrow in his yard after the hunting season had concluded, according to state Environmental Police.

Police went to the man's Ashburnham home after a butcher from New Hampshire called police about the illegal kill. Environmental police found the dead bear in the man's pickup truck with its cubs huddled around the carcass.

"[T]he individual advised the butcher that the bear had been killed on Saturday, the final day of bear season; however, the butcher determined the bear had been killed that day and not on the day the individual originally claimed," police said.

Police discovered the man had actually killed the bear in his own backyard while the sow was feeding at a bird feeder. The investigation began in late 2021, according to police.

The man was charged with illegal taking of a black bear, hunting after the season had closed, illegal hunting of a bear in a baited area, discharge of an arrow within 150 feet of a road, hunting within 500 feet of a home, falsifying a harvest report and exporting an illegally taken bear out of state.