Spring has finally arrived in Connecticut and bears are beginning to emerge from their winter dens.
As bears come out of hibernation, they’ll start travelling and roaming area neighborhoods, looking for food. Being bear aware and managing food and garbage is imperative to ensuring mutual coexistence.
According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection “human-associated foods” including bird feeders, trash, and pet food bring bears into residential areas, creating behaviors that can lead to human-bear conflicts.
“There’s no reason we can’t coexist with them,” said Ben Kilham, a wildlife biologist and founder of the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, New Hampshire. “The only issues we have with bears are created by people.”
The center works to rescue and reintegrate black bear cubs that have been injured or orphaned, while educating the public on the importance of bear conservation.
Some in Easton might be familiar with the Kilham center where Indra and Izzy, the two surviving cubs of Bear #217, “Bobbi the Bear,” were sent after their mother was shot and killed by on off-duty Ridgefield Police Sergeant on May 12, 2022. After a year at the center, the cubs were released into the Green Mountains of Vermont.
In 2023, there were bear sightings reported in 165 of Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities. Easton had 26 to 50 reported sightings in 2023, a high number for a town of only 7,600 residents, according to DEEP.
DEEP’s “Be Bear Wise Checklist” lists several ways residents can avoid conflicts and problems with black bears. Bears are attracted to garbage, pet food, compost piles, fruit trees and birdfeeders.
To make your home a “No-Bear-Food-Zone” the state agency recommends the following:
- Remove birdfeeders and bird food from late March through November.
- Clean up spilled seed from the ground.
- Store any unused bird seed and suet in a location not accessible to bears, such as a closed garage.
- Do not store bird seed in screened porches or sheds where bears will be able to rip screens or break through windows to access the seed.
- Store garbage in secure, airtight containers inside a garage or other enclosed storage area. Adding ammonia to trash cans and bags and cleaning them will reduce odors that attract bears.
- Do not store recyclables in a porch or screened sunroom as bears can smell these items and will rip screens to get at them.
- Put out your garbage for pickup on the morning of collection and not the night before. Ask your garbage removal company if they provide bear-proof garbage cans. Keep barbecue grills clean.
- Store grills inside a garage or shed.
- Do not leave pet food outdoors or feed pets outside.
- Avoid placing meat scraps or sweet foods, such as fruit and fruit peels, in compost piles.
Founded in 1993, Kilham center is a the state-licensed rehabilitation facility has returned over 350 cubs to the wild. Educating the public on the importance of bear conservation is one of the top priorities for the center The family-owned business leads lectures everywhere from local New Hampshire elementary schools to large state universities.
“They are great animals, and they were here first,” said Kilham.
If you would like to learn more about bears in Connecticut visit DEEP’s “Living with Black Bears” website.
You can also stay up to date with the bears brought to the Kilham center by visiting the center’s website or on Instagram and Facebook: @kilhambearcenter.
