Officer Clarke Broke The Law
To the Editor:
The bottom line is Officer Clarke broke the law twice in killing Bobbi the bear.
Forget the fact that this was a case of bad judgement by a police officer who killed a non-threatening black bear in his back yard.
The following are facts:
No person has ever been killed in the state of Connecticut by a black bear in the last 50 years.
Officer Clarke discharged an AR-15 in a residential neighborhood, placing the lives of his neighbors at risk. This is one of the most deadly and lethal weapons on the market with an effective range of 400-600 yards. Firing a rifle within 500 feet of a house or road is illegal.
Killing a bear out of season is also against the law with very serious penalties and fines.
CT DEEP should have been contacted prior to killing the bear, not after she was shot seven times.
If DEEP thought it was a threat over the last 5 years they would have either put it down or tranquilized it and moved it to a remote part of the state.
Anyone who has free-range chickens knows this is an invitation to every predator in Newtown to show up at your house for a free meal.
More chickens are killed by hawks, fox, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, etc than bears but we don’t kill every animal that steps into our yard.
If officer Clarke had just admitted he made a mistake and said he would pay a fine all of this would probably have gone away.
The powers to be are setting a bad precedent, which will make it almost impossible to find anyone guilty of the above when Officer Clarke is able to walk away with no consequences. Shame on you.
Frank Gardner
Sandy Hook
Amen
Agree
DEEP knew the bear was becoming a threat and did nothing. Twice tagged should have required relocation (again).
To be clear, he did not break the law. The state’s attorney looked at all the facts and determined that no charges were warranted. You may have looked at what you have read on social media and could find them guilty. I support the officer’s right to defend himself and protect his neighborhood. I think the only people who are guilty here are the people who knowingly fed this bear because they thought the cubs were cute. This is where the criminally lie.