Selectmen Hear Citizen's Petition to Ban Feeding Bears

Love them or hate them, bears have become a part of the Westford community over the past few years. What the future holds for these creatures in the local area remains to be seen, but one man hopes to come to Town Meeting this fall with a measure that would take away one of these animals’ favorite sources of food.

Richard Hendl came before the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday night to seek their recommendation for his citizen’s petition warrant article that would ban the feeding of wildlife, particularly regarding bears but other wild animals such as water fowl such as ducks and geese.

Between safety concerns regarding interactions between people and animals as well as the potential nuisance wildlife can cause when in human areas, Hendl hopes his warrant article can serve as an educational tool for residents if it is passed into law by voters this October.

“I think that’s something for all of us who have lived here a long time, we never thought we’d see a bear in our backyard, so it’s certainly exciting,” Hendl said. “However, when you sit back and think about it, what are the safety issues that they might be creating by doing so, and not just for their own safety, but their neighbors as well.”

Hendl developed the petition with information the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, particularly through the advice of Furbear and Black Bear agent Laura Conlee.

During the meeting, Conlee told the Selectmen that several towns in Massachusetts have passed similar bylaws ranging from those limited to just water fowl in towns like Dennis to bear-focused bylaws like the one passed this summer in Northampton, where before residents would often dump 50 pound bags of birdseed into their backyards to attract bears.

While towns in Western Massachusetts have dealt with bear populations for decades, towns closer to Boston such as Westford are just beginning have bears come into their communities, with Westford being one of the first to contemplate such a bylaw.

Conlee says her role is strictly non-political, but like Hendl hopes for greater awareness when it comes to interactions between humans and bears.

“The bylaw will relate to a lot of different issues, but it really provides a good opportunity for the town to educate its residents,” said Conlee. “For a lot of people who haven’t had a bear in their yard, they might not know what attracts them. Just by bringing this up, they might think of attracts bears to the area. It creates a really good discussion.”

Westford Animal Control officer Meg Mizzoni told the board she supports the proposed bylaw as a tool to help prevent problems, which she says have been constant, although the board indicated it had concerns with language within the petition, particularly regarding  impacts on hunters and birdwatchers.

Conlee told the board that while hunters would likely not be impacted outside of those possibly hunting coyotes with lures, in other communities with comparable bylaws, birdfeeders were limited only to bear hibernation months.

“The way this was written was not to remove birdfeeders, but if you’re bringing bears to your backyard, then this needs to be resolved,” she said. “We’re not outlawing birdfeeders, but in a problem feeding situation, something needs to be done.”

Due to concerns over legal enforcement of the bylaw, the Board declined to take action on the warrant article until receiving an opinion from town legal counsel, with Hendl telling Patch that he would welcome constructive amendments to the article by town meeting voters as long as the core purpose of the article could remain intact.

Full wording of the article is available on the town website.