BLOOMFIELD, Conn. — State environmental officials said they had to euthanize a bear that broke into a home in Bloomfield.
"I woke up and my brother-in-law told me there's a bear in the house!" said the Bloomfield resident who lived in the home.
The resident did not want to show his face on camera and told FOX61 he was upstairs when the bear tore open the screen door and got into the house and spent approximately 15 minutes inside.
"Please! Don't come upstairs! I'm thinking about going out the window. Get out of the house!" added the resident.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP)'s Environmental Conservation Police (EnCon) responded to the Bloomfield home around 5 p.m. Wednesday, along with local police.
"We ran out of the house and the bear was inside and we pretty much were outside to try and go around the back to see where it entered and then we see the two cubs just chilling in the back and we backed up," added the resident.
A female bear entered the home through a screen door while two people were inside, according to DEEP. The bear left the house before EnCon arrived, but the bear was found near the house and then euthanized.
State EnCon Officer Sam DeFelice pointed out this incident was an example of how comfortable bears have gotten in the state.
"We observed the bear going house to house trying to push open doors and windows. It's actively trying to get into several other homes in the neighborhood. We followed our bear response protocol and dispatched that bear," said DeFelice.
Some Bloomfield residents said they were disturbed the bear was euthanized.
"We have taken a lot of their source of food away and habitat away," said David Sasportas of Bloomfield.
Two yearlings were found nearby. The young bears are old enough to survive in the wild by themselves, according to DEEP.
Jenny Dickson, a wildlife biologist with DEEP explained why officers did not just relocate the bear.
"We would just be moving a bear that already learned bad behavior to somebody else's neighborhood and somebody else's yard where it's just going to break into somebody else's house," said Dickson.
A bear found its way into an Avon bakery on May 24, and DEEP did not find the bear in question at the time. And last month, DEEP responded to a home, also in Avon, where a bear attempted to enter the home.
DEEP said that in 2022, it had 67 bear home entries reported from around the state.
Ways to be "bear aware" include securing trash cans, taking down bird feeders, avoiding leaving human or pet food outside, and making loud noises to scare them away.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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