PORTLAND, Conn. — Homeowners are spotting bears more and more in recent months. Over the weekend, multiple Portland neighbors saw bears in the area, including a spot near Great Hill Pond.
Rose Modzelewski told FOX61 she found a black bear moseying through her yard, and it knocked down the garbage and a bird feeder.
Another neighbor said a bird feeder also attracted a bear on Great Hill Pond Road Sunday afternoon. But, it’s not just in Portland.
Peter LaFavor, of Bristol spotted a bear on his Ring camera twice, including in a video he shared with FOX61 from May.
“It’s pretty cool to see, just when you see them you kind of get thrown back a little bit but I guess it’s nature,” LaFavor said. “The first time the bear came, it went through our garbage, so I came out and our garbage was knocked down, our trash on our lawn.”
FOX61 spoke with Wildlife Biologist Paul Rego, of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, to find out what’s drawing the bears into peoples neighborhoods.
He said one reason is bears are getting ready to hibernate for the winter.
“They try to consume as many calories as they possibly can so they’re really on a mission to eat and then eat some more, so it’s not unusual if bear homes there’s easy food sources for bears such as bird feeders that they’ll take advantage," Rego said.
He noted that bears have been residents of Connecticut for 30 years and were locally extinct before that, but as time goes on their population has grown and spread.
“It is interesting to have sightings east of the Connecticut River because bears still are not as common there so reports in towns like Portland, East Hampton, East Haddam, those are still more on the unique side compared to the towns on the western side of the state,” Rego added.
If you encounter a bear, Rego said there are different ways to respond depending on where you spot them.
“If there’s a bear bear your home, we recommend trying to scare the bear off, make loud noises, like banging pots and pans and shouting,” Rego said. “Once the bear has left, try to figure out if there was a reason the bear was there. Is there a human provided food source such as bird feeders or garbage cans that might have brought the bear there in the first place?”
On the other hand, if you’re hiking and spot a bear in the forest, make the bear aware of you.
But if that doesn’t work, Rego said don’t approach the bear and simply go in a different direction. Bears in the forest typically try to avoid people.
“It’s extremely rare for bears to be aggressive with people in either scenario,” Rego said.
The firearms deer hunting season will begin Wednesday, but Rego said there shouldn’t be a significant impact on the bear population. It is illegal to hunt bears in Connecticut.
If you spot a bear in your neighborhood, let CT DEEP know. They have an online survey to report bear sightings which you can access by clicking here.
DEEP also said if a bear is in a densely populated area, contact their Wildlife Division at 860-424-3011
- Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM or
- DEEP Dispatch 860-424-3333, 24 hours.
For more information on how to coexist with bears, click here.
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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