Where's the Bear? Western Mass... Somewhere

The wandering bear that captured fame during its travels from Cape Cod to Brookline Massachusetts this month has found a new home in western Massachusetts. But state wildlife officials aren't saying where, exactly, they dropped off the peripatetic animal after capturing it yesterday.

"The reason is that for bear or any large aniumal particularly a bear in this case which has had a lot of exposure or celebrity status if you will, it's going to generate a fair amount of fascination and curious bear seekers," said Tom O'Shea, the state's assistant director of wildlife.

O'Shea added that the bear shows no signs of being a "problem" bear, but nonetheless needs some privacy right now - after the trauma of being captured and carted to new quarters.

"What we don't want to do is to give a location that could allow people to get close the bear, move the bear around and essentially stress the bear. This is particularly an important time period when the animal is in an unfamiliar territory, has been recently drugged and then transported under those conditions. So the animal needs to basically be left alone and we need to minimize the stress on the animal."
 
O'Shea said the bear's next move is unpredictable -- but like most young male black bears this time of year, he can be expected to remain on the move.