Why Hanson officials plan to kill local black bear nicknamed Pumpkin. Residents react

HANSON — Residents are rallying around a black bear nicknamed Pumpkin after the Hanson Police Department announced the local bear would be euthanized after a recent string of attacks on livestock.

The announcement, which was posted on the Hanson Police Department’s Facebook account at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, received more than 800 comments, 440 reactions and 180 shares by Friday morning.

Many people expressed anger and sadness over the announcement and questioned officials’ decision to kill the bear. Comments like “save Pumpkin,” “Pumpkin strong,” and “leave the bear alone,” flooded Hanson's police Facebook post.

More:Bear nicknamed Pumpkin to be killed after attacking Hanson goats. What we know

As of Friday afternoon, Pumpkin is still alive, according to Hanson police.

Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch spoke to The Enterprise to address resident’s concerns and questions about the unfolding situation. Here’s what we know.

The attack

Pumpkin, who has been seen noshing on resident’s Halloween pumpkins left out on porches, has also developed a taste for livestock.

“Last evening one of the local bears once again got into a resident's barn and killed a goat. Since the bear, known as Pumpkin, has gotten a taste for livestock he will have to be euthanized,” Hanson police said.

In a Facebook page titled “South Shore Bear Sightings,” a woman claimed that it was her two pet goats, named “Toasty” and “Monster Truck” by her four-year-old son, that were killed.  She also claimed that their barn was locked, secured, reinforced with steel and had an electric fence surrounding it. Still, the bear was able to get in.

“Bears are very resourceful when they find a food source,” the Hanson Police Department said.  

Since Pumpkin has repeatedly gone after livestock and is getting too comfortable with humans and their food sources, he or she has now been deemed a “problem bear” by the Environmental Police and Massachusetts wildlife experts who consulted with The Hanson Police Department.

Euthanasia vs. relocation

Many residents commented that the bear should be relocated to a zoo, sanctuary or another community instead of killed.

“Is there a bear refuge or wildlife society that can come intervene and save this animal?” one woman wrote. “I feel like you’re taking the easiest way out. It’s easier to euthanize the animal than take steps to have him relocated,” she continued.

“Relocate him, please. The bear is just being a bear,” commented another.

One man even wrote into The Enterprise to offer to pay for the animal’s relocation.

The issue, Miksch says, is that the black bear isn’t an endangered species.

“No one’s coming to get a black bear,” he said.

The second issue is that it’s already gotten a taste for livestock.

“Once they get a taste for livestock they keep going back for livestock. This thing likes goats and that’s what it wants to keep eating," said Miksch, who first made an effort to relocate the bear. “It’s going to be a problem in the community that it gets relocated too so that isn't allowed."

A public safety concern

Pumpkin has also become a public safety issue.

“The other issue is it got into a building. Now we have another problem. Is it going to figure out that if it smells something in a house it can get inside?” Miksch said. “It’s getting too close to people in a residential area."

"The same people who are angry at me for this decision are the same people who are going to be pissed if it gets into somebody’s house and hurts them. It was a damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation."

Where is Pumpkin now?

The Hanson Police Department and the Massachusetts Environmental Police Department spent two hours tracking the bear after the attack on Wednesday but were unable to safely take a shot without the risk of endangering residents, Hanson police said.

Miksch also clarified that officials are not actively hunting the bear.

“We don’t want to hear from you if it’s sitting in your yard eating acorns,” he said. “But the next time it’s sniffing around somebody’s livestock, or if it becomes aggressive towards people, it’s going to have to be put down.”

As of Friday afternoon, officials confirmed Pumpkin had not been killed.

Residents react with anger and sadness

Many animal lovers took to Facebook to express their anger and sadness as official's decision.

"Euthanizing a bear because he’s being a bear!" one commentor wrote. "You said so yourself, we have to learn to live with the bears. Another bear is just going to take his place. This is asinine."

"This is so wrong on so many levels. Do we just go and kill every wild animal now because it’s killing other animals?" wrote another.

The hashtag #savepumpkin appeared repeatedly amongst those in protest of the decision to kill the bear.

For officials in Hanson, the decision did not come lightly.

"We are disappointed that the situation has led to this decision," they wrote, encouraging residents to educate themselves on living with black bears to prevent this from happening again. "We do not want this to become a recurring issue."

'We're the problem': Tips for residents

“We’re the problem,” Miksch said. “It’s getting used to us. We can live with it, but we can’t feed it. We’ve even been hearing that people are getting grain asking what type they should get to feed the bear.”

According to MassWildlife's Black Bear and Furbearer Biologist Dave Wattles, black bears themselves aren’t the problem.

“Some bears spend their entire lives in very urban places, but the threat to the public is still minimal,” he said. “They’re using very developed places, but we can allow black bears to be there because they’re not inherently aggressive towards people.”

However, Wattles clarified that when a bear becomes a public safety issue, that is a different story.

"We recommend residents remove food sources around their homes, like bird feeders, which train the bear to come into your yard to try to find food, increasing the chances of an interaction,” Wattles said.

“Shooting the bear doesn’t get to the root problem, which is an unsecured food source. We try to work with people who have backyard chickens or bees to use electric fencing, but it can also be used for larger livestock as well."

Resources for preventing conflict with bears can be found on Mass.gov.

Enterprise staff writer Amelia Stern can be reached by email at astern@enterprisenews.com.