{"id":749389,"date":"2026-07-07T23:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/749389\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T23:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:17:10","slug":"black-bear-spotted-in-norton-as-sightings-increase-across-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/749389\/","title":{"rendered":"Black bear spotted in Norton as sightings increase across region"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">NORTON, Mass. \u2014 A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/news\/local\/black-bear-sightings-reported-2-mass-communities-residents-urged-use-caution\/EU5YTX64QBE6HCGKWBANLPNAWA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/news\/local\/black-bear-sightings-reported-2-mass-communities-residents-urged-use-caution\/EU5YTX64QBE6HCGKWBANLPNAWA\/\">black bear<\/a> was spotted in Norton, marking the latest in a series of sightings reported across southeastern Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">The bear was photographed on Plain Street near Burt Street, the Norton Police Department announced Monday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">Authorities said bear sightings have become more common in the area over the past several years, with a notable uptick over the last week. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">It remains unclear whether the Norton bear is the same one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/news\/local\/black-bear-sightings-reported-2-mass-communities-residents-urged-use-caution\/EU5YTX64QBE6HCGKWBANLPNAWA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/news\/local\/black-bear-sightings-reported-2-mass-communities-residents-urged-use-caution\/EU5YTX64QBE6HCGKWBANLPNAWA\/\">reported in Randolph, Avon, Brockton, and Stoughton<\/a> in recent days. Last week, a bear sighting prompted the temporary closure of DW Field Park in Brockton.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/cmg\/Q4W57Z4ELRE7ZBMPHX42Y2RTAA.png\" width=\"1440\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-1htor29-0 jibCgM image-metadata\">Black bear on the loose (Holbrook Ma\/Avon Ma Animal Control)<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">MassWildlife believes the animal is likely a young male black bear searching for its own territory, a common behavior for bears of that age. Wildlife officials do not expect the bear will need to be relocated and say it will likely continue moving through the region on its own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">Residents are encouraged to keep a safe distance from bears and avoid approaching or feeding them. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">Officials also recommend securing potential food sources, including bird feeders, pet food, and trash containers, to reduce the likelihood of attracting bears to residential areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">Wildlife experts say black bears are generally wary of people and will often move on if left undisturbed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/news\/local\/have-new-device-get-our-free-boston-25-news-weather-apps\/PDC6X7UKOFDBVPV5YJHG3CX36I\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE Boston 25 News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph\">Follow Boston 25 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Boston25News\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/boston25\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston25news.com\/video\/live-stream\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Watch Boston 25 News NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 fcApnw body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NORTON, Mass. \u2014 A black bear was spotted in Norton, marking the latest in a series of sightings&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[107488,61813,241694,321417,321418,3,117485,321416,199501,79,139194,1977,201],"class_list":["post-749389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-mass","tag-avon","tag-brockton","tag-burt_street","tag-dw_field","tag-news","tag-norton","tag-plain_street","tag-randolph","tag-science","tag-stoughton","tag-video","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}