After all of the bear sightings in the Berkshires over the past couple of months, most people can probably agree at this point that the Berkshires should be renamed to the BEARkshires.

Every couple of days each week, another bear sighting is being videoed and added to social media. Berkshire residents appear to be having fun sharing their bear activity to Facebook and why not? There used to be a time when seeing a bear in your backyard was a rarity. Now it's rare in the Berkshires not to see a bear either in your backyard, or somewhere on your property and they are certainly comfortable enough to show right up near your house.

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An example of a bear getting comfortable is documented below as this bubby was caught on camera roaming around on this deck in Sheffield. The video was shared by a member of the Southern Berkshire Community News, Information and Events Facebook group. The video was taken on Jun. 22.

With the increased bear activity in the Berkshires, now is a good time to remind you what to do if you come across a bear on your property:

According to Mass.gov you want to make noise by banging pots and pans, shouting, or using an air horn to try to scare the bear off. Once the bear has left the area, take a close look at your yard for potential bear food sources such as bird feeders, pet food, dirty barbeque grills, open compost, or trash and remove those food sources immediately. Bears have incredible long-term memory and will revisit places where they have found food, even months or years later. Bears that are frequently fed, either directly or indirectly through bird feeders or garbage, may completely lose their fear of people. If a bear then behaves in a way that is a threat to public safety it may be euthanized.

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