A Bear Story—

CT 47 Arrives In Newtown From Hamden

By Kendra Bobowick

At about 1:30 in the afternoon on May 16, Southbury resident Dennis Hammer realized that he had some unexpected company as he traveled along Currituck Road toward Route 25 leading into Brookfield.

“I just happened to see him,” Mr Hammer said. The “him” was a roughly 200-pound black bear strolling out of a wooded area and into the road. The bear was soon focused in the viewfinder of Mr Hammer’s Canon 30D, fitted with a 300 mm lens.

“I took some closeups, and then [the bear] stood on his back legs,” he said. One of Mr Hammer’s photos shows the bear upright with his paws against the top of what Mr Hammer said was an eight-foot-tall fence. The bear was literally nose-to-nose with the top. Other clues about the bear are visible in his photos. In the bear’s right ear is a small red tag that identified him as CT 47.

The bear was first spotted, tranquilized, and removed from the urban streets of Hamden on May 8 — an incident that had been televised and first drew attention to this particular black bear. CT 47 has now made his way to Newtown.

After “stumbling across him,” Mr Hammer decided to track CT 47. “I found him near High Meadow Road in Brookfield. The location is just past the town boarder off of Route 25.”

He had contacted animal control officers in each town.

Newtown’s Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason responded to Mr Hammer’s bear sighting, but did not see #47, she said. She has had other calls already this year. Roughly one month ago officers called her with a startling story.

“There was a bear swimming across Lake Zoar at night, swimming to the Southbury side,” she said. Officers contacted her after a resident reported a bear in the yard. Officers arrived at the home and told Ms Mason that bear had gone into the lake.

Her overall advice to those who might see a bear is simple. “Just stay away,” she said.

CT 47 has become a familiar bear with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP’s Wildlife Division, Wildlife Biologist Paul Rego said the bear is a male, about 2½ to 3½ years old, and was removed from Hamden.

Mr Rego explained the likelihood of why bears are being spotted locally.

“Number one is the population is increasing in general. There are more bear reports every year,” he said.

Growing appetites may also have a hand in bear sightings. “This tends to be the time when the natural food supplies are not abundant, so they are moving to find food,” he said. Residents need to be careful about their backyard habits, however. “[Bears] are sometimes attracted to trash and birdfeeders and poorly stored garbage.” These attractants will draw the bear into neighborhoods and backyards.

Mr Rego said, “A bear’s main drive in life is to find food, and they’ll come to a home.”

The bears are rarely aggressive, Mr Rego said.

“Normally if they know you are there, they will run off or ignore [people],” he said. Mr Rego also advises that people take precautions. “Keep a distance, make noise so the bear knows you’re there,” he said.

A recent release from the DEP, which is also posted on the website www.ct.gov/dep, contains more details about bears and residents’ safety. The release states, “…Bears are active this time of year looking for food, territory and mates.”

Regarding the food sources near a home, the release explains, “If bears find food rewards near homes, they can become habituated and lose their fear of humans.” Homeowners are reminded of other food sources, including pet and livestock feed, grease and drippings from a grill, food scraps placed out to compost, and fruit from trees.

Bears have also been known to attack livestock and destroy beehives. The DEP recommends keeping animals in sheds at night, and keeping feed contained.