Bears breaking into homes

[Improviser]

Anyone having this problem?

The article has some good recommendations about taking in bird feeders from March to November and keeping barbecue grills in a garage or shed when not being used.

Bear killed after breaking into CT homes, officials say

A bear that broke into several Canton homes —some occupied — has been killed and a cub was also killed accidentally, officials with DEEP said.

www.nhregister.com

 

[jibsey]

I would rather have them outside with the grill than in the garage which can be open at times. No way to keep a grill in the garage or shed and take it in and out every time, that‘s crazy. Bird feeders I agree.

 

[Chantry1101]

When we first moved into our house in a town with bears, we heard about not having bird feeders, but someone gave us one as a housewarming gift and I thought I'd be clever and put it way up in a tree. I'd like to see a bear get THAT. One day, our kids are in the living room watching Land Before Time and one of them starts saying "bear, bear, bear" and I'm like "no, those are diniosaurs", then I look and our oldest is pointing out the window at the bear who had climbed 20 feet up into the tree and was emptying out the birdfeeder.

No more bird feeders for us. We see bears relatively often, lots of other bear stories, they're always either afraid of us and run away, or ignore us.

 

[phillionaire]

 

[TRest]

Can't wait for the discussion over what county has the best bears in CT.

 

[whalerfan]

Can't wait for the discussion over what county has the best bears in CT.

I know there's a few in Hartford county and one just off I-91 in New Haven. Haven't been to that one yet.

 

[Northbound]

Can't wait for the discussion over what county has the best bears in CT.

We’re still talking animals here, right?

It was too easy to resist.

 

[Durks07]

Can't wait for the discussion over what county has the best bears in CT.

Litchfield County. We can close the thread now and save everyone the trouble.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Anyone having this problem?

The article has some good recommendations about taking in bird feeders from March to November and keeping barbecue grills in a garage or shed when not being used.

Bear killed after breaking into CT homes, officials say

A bear that broke into several Canton homes —some occupied — has been killed and a cub was also killed accidentally, officials with DEEP said.

www.nhregister.com

I have a bear that torments me. I left my garbage out, and for the last year he/she comes back once a week. It’s same bear because the bear eats in the same place. I finally put a lock on it, it the bear will knock it down.

I did a lot of research on it. Bears with 4 bear cubs is unusual in the wild. What it means is that the areas the bears are in is a robust environment for breeding and living. Nature kind of controls the population.

Why so many bears now?

Bears were native, of course, until Europeans started to farm and cut down trees in the 19th century. Bears live in woods and were driven to the berkshires.

Over the last 50-70 years as farms went away and CT was re forested the bears moved back in. Now? These bears are native to the Farmington Valley. I think there is something like 400 bears here and the population exploding .

Sad thing is the bears are very docile, but they are dangerous due to size and strength. If a bear doesn’t run away from a human, or scared of human interaction, it has to be euthanized. Too dangerous to remain alive. It isn’t that they are aggressive, they usually aren’t. But they are familiar with humans. They werent meant to live alonsgside humans.

BTW. Out your grill inside your shed or garage when not in use? .

 

[Conndog]

We have bird feeders up during the summer, you just have to put them inside at night. I like watching the birds!

 

[Deepster]

I live in Bear Country and every week there are very heated debates on the town Facebook page on taking in/leaving out your bird feeders year round.

 

[aburks41]

I grew up in Avon which has the most bear sightings every single year. I would see them all the time in our yard. I have a video of one of them going through my neighbors trash cans and pulling bags of trash into the woods one by one lol

It's sad that they killed this one. They're very curious animals and most of them live around people, it's not a surprise that they don't really have any fear of humans - that doesn't mean they should have to be put down.

This story is remarkably similar to Hank the Tank, that 500lb bear in Tahoe from a few months ago. That thing was an absolute unit lmao

 

[ctchamps]

Some Recent Goshen Bears

 

[AreBee1969]

I lived in extremely rural New Hartford (Litchfield County) for 25 years and never saw a bear. I've been in Farmington for 21 years and I see them 3 or 4 times a month. They take down my bird feeder maybe once every year or two, but I've seen them walk right under it without breaking stride.

We keep our trash in the garage and take it out late on the night before the 5:30 AM pick-up and they've had at it twice in 20 years. We do have a few neighbors that store their trash outside and they obviously have more issues. Never had an issue with our grill which is on the patio for 8+ months a year, although our neighbor had one climb onto his deck while he was grilling!

Mostly they just lumber through with an occasional cub or two and entertain us. I've had a couple instances where I've been nearly face to face with them (accidently) and it's a rush!

 

[Deepster]

I work on a screened in back porch and bears walk through my yard at least once a week. The most, that I saw, was 5 days in a row.

 

[Bootsy]

I'm in the Canton area and know the families that were impacted. It was getting dangerous. The bears were entering homes through doors and windows. They were also getting aggressive and didn't back down from noise. The fact that there were 4 cubs made it more challenging for people. We've always had "bear issues" in town but this was different.

 

[SoFla Steve]

I was visiting my brother in Glastonbury over the Memorial Day weekend. He has security camera video of a mother bear and three cubs climbing a fence and marching across his backyard.

Earlier in the year, a bobcat walked through the yard. Years ago when I still lived in CT, bobcat sightings were extremely rare. Not sure about today.

 

[Get a Job]

I was visiting my brother in Glastonbury over the Memorial Day weekend. He has security camera video of a mother bear and three cubs climbing a fence and marching across his backyard.

Earlier in the year, a bobcat walked through the yard. Years ago when I still lived in CT, bobcat sightings were extremely rare. Not sure about today.

I'm guessing bobcat sightings are no longer rare. I live in a fairly densely populated area (Middletown) and I've seen a bobcat in the neighborhood.

 

[Palatine]

Black bears are large, five times as strong as a human, can run 30 miles an hours, are tremendous climbers and have teeth and claws and inch or two long.

The bears eventually become accustom to humans. They lose their fear and then there are problems. It will stop being a rush and become a danger. Incidents between humans and bears will continue to increase as the bear population in Connecticut increases.

While the bears rarely kill humans, most incidents where humans are injured begin as skirmishes with dogs. These are wild animals. Be careful. And NEVER run away from a bear.

 

[dennismenace]

I live in Bristol and they are now regularly seen in backyards around town both near downtown and out in the more rural areas. A few years back the State DEP had a map which they called the "Bear Highway" which went from Burlington/Bristol up through Farmington Avon Simsbury etc. until it hit the Mass. line. I can not find the map any longer but the route is considered migratory and continues on in Mass.

Here is an article which has a town by town list color coded which will show the number of sightings if you click the town. You can see the "highway" very clearly here:

Bear Sightings In CT On The Rise: Town-By-Town Updates

 

[AreBee1969]

I live in Bristol and they are now regularly seen in backyards around town both near downtown and out in the more rural areas. A few years back the State DEP had a map which they called the "Bear Highway" which went from Burlington/Bristol up through Farmington Avon Simsbury etc. until it hit the Mass. line. I can not find the map any longer but the route is considered migratory and continues on in Mass.

Here is an article which has a town by town list color coded which will show the number of sightings if you click the town. You can see the "highway" very clearly here:

Bear Sightings In CT On The Rise: Town-By-Town Updates

I remember one went into Crazy Bruce's in your town! They do have good prices.

A Farmington resident told me last week that DEEP would often relocate bears from other towns to Sessions Woods in Burlington and that was the reason for the number of sightings in our area. Not sure of the veracity of the story.

 

[mussels]

Bears: If its black - fight back, if its brown - lay down, if its white - say goodnight.

 

[UCTitleTown]

I'm currently on a YouTube binge watching documentaries about bear attacks. It's crazy the efforts made in Alaska to bear proof cottages with reinforced doors, electrification etc. Granted, those are more for Brown Bear/Grizzlies due to their size and strength, but Black Bears are smart and resourceful and pretty strong too.

One thing I learned recently is if you see a bear with two ear tags, don't call CT DEP unless the bear is aggressive or harming pets/livestock or property. After complaints and two tags, bears are euthanized, so it's good to use good judgement before making a call that will result in a bear (and potentially cubs) losing it's life. I never saw a bear in CT in my whole life, but have encountered three in the past year. In all cases, they ran when my car approached or I started getting out of my car. Carry bear spray while hiking, make noise to let bears know you're there, keep pets leashed while out walking, keep your distance, and you won't have a problem with bears. Obviously, if a bear is attacking your pets or livestock or breaking into your home, that's another matter

 

[aburks41]

Black bears are large, five times as strong as a human, can run 30 miles an hours, are tremendous climbers and have teeth and claws and inch or two long.

The bears eventually become accustom to humans. They lose their fear and then there are problems. It will stop being a rush and become a danger. Incidents between humans and bears will continue to increase as the bear population in Connecticut increases.

While the bears rarely kill humans, most incidents where humans are injured begin as skirmishes with dogs. These are wild animals. Be careful. And NEVER run away from a bear.

Black bears are very very rarely aggressive. They behave way more like a raccoon than a grizzly. Unless you provoke a momma bear with cubs, they won't harm you. Just keep your dog on a leash if you are hiking, and keep an eye on them if you don't have a fenced in yard. There is a bear family that lives in the woods behind my house so I've seen the momma with cubs quite often over the years, my dog will bark at them (from inside) but they just ignore him and keep wandering around.

I wish people would stop reporting sightings because some bears get killed for no reason at all. They're incredibly smart animals, they don't want to attack people. I'd be more afraid seeing an off-leash pitbull than I would be seeing a black bear

 

[CL82]

I've had a couple instances where I've been nearly face to face with them (accidently) and it's a rush!

Would that be rush as in your bowels vacating? I’ve had a couple of close encounters with bears in the Adirondacks. It is intimidating. They had absolutely no fear of humans.