Black bears in the backyard: Why they’re everywhere, and what to do

The bear made its way down Main Street, cutting through backyards and getting into mischief, while Leslie Badger followed at a distance.

“He checked out a few gardens, helped himself to some vegetables and fruit trees,” she says. “Then he found a nice pool to go swimming.”

Badger is a police officer and the one-woman animal control department of Hingham, Mass., a suburb across the harbor from Boston. When a bear showed up at the beginning of August, it was only the second time she’d ever responded to an ursine issue.