FLORENCE — A black bear cub ran out of the woods and onto Westhampton Road Wednesday morning — right into the path of a Florence woman’s vehicle.
The 2009 Toyota and the cub collided, and the bear died on impact.
The accident happened at about 9:53 a.m. Wednesday as the driver was headed west on Westhampton Road (Route 66), approaching Ridgeview Road, near the Westhampton line, according to a Northampton Police Department report.
“The cub ran directly into the path of” the vehicle, according to the department’s narrative. The driver “attempted to avoid collision, but was unable to.”
It was not immediately clear where the mother bear was at the time of the accident. The vehicle had “heavy front-end damage” and was towed from the scene.
Northampton Police spokesman Capt. John Cartledge was not immediately available for comment.
The posted speed limit on that stretch of road is 35 mph, and the woman did not face any charges.
Ralph Taylor, district manager for the Connecticut River Valley district of MassWildlife, said that, based on the extent of the damage, the cub was probably a yearling, at least 70 pounds, and out on its own for the first time.
“A young-of-the-year cub is not going to cause that kind of damage, but a yearling could,” he said.
Taylor said yearlings in May or June are off searching for new food sources, their first time away from their mothers.
“At this time of the year, yearlings are kind of at a loss,” he said. “Now they’re out on their own.”
He said birdseed in bird feeders is the easiest source of food for bears.
MassWildlife estimated in 2011 the black bear population was between 4,000 and 4,500 in Massachusetts, up from about 100 in the 1970s.
Taylor said that now there could be as many as 5,500 black bears in the state.
“Our bear population is increasing exponentially — not linearly,” he said.
Taylor said there are few checks on the population in Massachusetts, with not enough hunting permits being issued each year to slow the growth.
And he said bears go where people live. For homeowners and landlords, MassWildlife offers a number of tips to minimize contact, including landlords asking for bear-proof dumpsters or homeowners constructing secure enclosures around trash bins.
The agency also recommends that bee hives and chicken coops be protected by electric fencing.
MassWildlife posted information on its Facebook page Thursday morning on how to react when encountering a mother bear and its cubs.
The agency recommends talking “in a calm voice and slowly back(ing) away. Do not run. It’s uncommon for a black bear to attack a person in defense of cubs. Instead, sows send their cubs up a tree to avoid danger.”
Jack Suntrup can be reached at jsuntrup@gazettenet.com.