BARKHAMSTED, Conn. — The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has suspended one of its own volunteer wildlife conservationists after a video showed her feeding bears repeatedly at her home.
Bear feeding is a practice discouraged by DEEP and outlawed by local ordinances in some communities.
DEEP has suspended Ginny Apple, pending a review of the evidence, including a video of Apple captured by Nature Havens. Apple can be seen throwing seeds on her lawn and calling bears. “Hey girl, hey girl!” she is heard saying multiple times throughout the month of October 2020.
Will Healey with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said, “This evidence being brought to us is the first that we’ve known of this person engaging in this feeding activity since they completed that program. This is news to us.”
The master wildlife conservationist program requires about 40 hours of training.
Apple is a Barkhamsted resident who is opposed to the nearby Nature Havens business operators. In online publicly accessible Facebook posts, she wrote, “Many people including myself, have been working tirelessly to ensure Munn and Nature Havens is shut down.”
She accused Nature Havens of, “Putting bait out since early Spring.”
FOX61 knocked on Apple's door but got no answer. Soon after, Apple emailed FOX61 a statement saying she put out seed in frustration to "attract bears away from a dangerous, illegal, and egregious situation" at Nature Havens. She said, "...it will not happen again."
On DEEP’s own website it reads, “Bears should never be fed.”
“It seems a little confusing to be preaching not to feed bears at the same time you have a bear buffet behind your kitchen," remarked Dr. Charles Munn, a controversial wildlife scientist and one of Nature Havens operators.
Dr. Munn and Barkhamsted resident Mark Brault have paired up to get their Nature Havens business on Hi View Road in Barkhamsted off the ground. They have also been accused by the town and state of baiting bears.
FOX61's Matt Caron asked, “Are you feeding bears?” Munn responded, “No we are not. In fact, they have produced no evidence that there is unusual bear activity.”
But DEEP said bears tagged with GPS collars have been returning to the same spot at Nature Havens.
“We’ve had evidence of bears displaying unusual behaviors that we typically associated with concentrated feeding," said Healey.
This is why the state says they’ve had to lure bears inside a steel drum using donuts on the property line of Nature Havens and the Hartland Land Trust.
It's a scientifically peer review tactic called aversive conditioning where the trapped bear is poked and prodded, yelled at, and then shot with rubber bullets.
Some call it bear hazing. The goal is to put the fear of humans back into habituated bears in the hopes they won't return to an area. It can look quite barbaric.
"These are accepted wildlife practices that can save the life of a bear," said Healey.
Nature Havens has tree cameras on its property line to observe the state as they practice aversive conditioning. In the video, wildlife officials can be seen attempting to block and then move the camera before beginning the conditioning.
"They are not interested in having people see the trapping procedure and the torture procedure," said Munn.
This small-town scuffle in Connecticut’s wilderness has escalated. Since he showed up in Connecticut in 2019 touting diversionary feeding experiments as a means of reducing human and bear conflicts, Dr. Munn has been a lightning rod of controversy.
"A number of people don’t even want to return my contacts. Maybe they are scared of the truth," said Munn.
Nature Havens has guaranteed bear sightings and charged tourists to learn about and take pictures of wildlife. It said the business is educational and will bring in tax dollars.
“We don’t have to work in Connecticut," Munn said. "Connecticut seems like a state that could use some more jobs.”
The town has accused Nature Havens of ruining the quality of life. Barkhamsted passed a no baiting ordinance
"I’m not going to pull out of CT immediately and run scared," responded Munn.
Alleged bear baiting isn’t the only reason Nature Havens was shut down. The town accused them of deceptive marketing, being improperly zoned, and having illegal structures. So far, four bears have been adversely conditioned here. The state said if a bear is proven to be a danger to humans, it may be euthanized.