As the only state in the northeast with a breeding population of black bears that does not allow hunting, local legislators are turning up the heat on a possible bear hunting season in the Constitution State.
The black bear population in Connecticut is believed to have doubled to about 1,200 bears over the past decade and without any management plan in place, will keep growing if left unchecked. In 2022, Connecticut experienced record numbers of interactions with black bears as the ballooning population continued to make its way into local neighborhoods, disrupting everyday life for many residents.
Last year the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) reported a record number of incidents, including a gruesome attack on a 10-year-old boy in Morris County.
The trend has been gaining steam as it rolled into 2023. With sightings on the rise across the state. The small town of Avon, just west of Hartford, reported over 600 sightings last year and has already seen one bear attack on a 74-year-old resident in April. A break-in was also reported at a local Avon residence earlier this week.
As with any proposal that includes hunting the fuzziest and furriest of animals, the bill has not been without opposition. Many of the opposed have been floating the notion that the state does not, in fact, have a bear problem. Quite the opposite seems to be true from their viewpoint stating the increase in bears is simply a human behavior problem.
While the sentiment of the idea is enough to inspire some cheers from the uninformed and ignorant among us, in reality, it holds up about as good as grandma’s bird feeder in the paws of a hungry boar.
In March, the bear bill passed out of the General Assembly’s Environment Committee, but not before state representatives were able to remove the annual state bear hunt from the bill, despite the recommendations from DEEP.
The move came as a shock to Rep. Karen Reddington-Hughes and many other Republicans in Connecticut.
“I’m just trying to get the gist of what went on with this bill because we’re rejecting the recommendations of our governor, we are rejecting the testimony of our paid officials from DEEP, and we’re allowing the residents of Connecticut now to legally defend themselves against the bears because we will not,” Rep. Karen Reddington-Hughes said as she addressed the committee. “I understand that this is an attempt to try to resolve something that I think we all know is a problem … I just hope that what we are trying to implement is going to be enough.”
The bill now restricts bird feeding and other ‘intentional and unintentional’ feeding practices, which may very well prove to mitigate bear sightings for a brief period of time.
What it won’t do is magically make them disappear.
With a population that has grown up on human food and bird seed, changing those habits is going to prove more challenging than solely attempting to restrict access to their favorite foods.
Last year, there were 67 reported break-ins by black bears across the state. Meaning, these animals are finding their way into garages, porches, screened rooms and homes on their own and will continue to do so, particularly if their favorite feeding areas suddenly disappear.
The truth about nuisance bears, or any predator for that matter is, they end up being killed anyway. The same can be said for wolves and grizzlies in the west and alligators in the south. Once an apex predator becomes accustomed to a reliable food source and humans, it’s difficult to bring that animal back to the wild – both physically and mentally.
As a result, these animals are disposed of by state enforcement agencies where not a tear is shed by the activists bent on stopping a legal, revenue-generating and limited hunting season.
