Bear encounters reach new high as population booms

Overturned trash cans, ransacked birdfeeders and injured dogs have become an all-too-common occurrence in the Northwest Corner as the local bear population continues to grow rapidly.

Black bears in Connecticut have made a comeback. Prior to the late ’80s they had completely disappeared in the state. In the ’90s and into the 2000s, sightings became more common as the population re-established itself. Now, DEEP Wildlife Director Jenny Dickson says the black bear population is reaching record highs.

While Connecticut’s bear population is still significantly smaller than Massachusetss or New York, bears in the state are about three times more likely to have negative encounters with people or be struck by cars on roads, according to DEEP’s 2024 annual report.

Black bears are thriving in Connecticut broadly, and in the Northwest Corner specifically, for several reasons. First, Dickson says, is Connecticut’s habitat.

“There’s plenty of habitat available for them, there’s plenty of good habitat for them to continue to expand into,” Dickson says. “And our bears have also benefited from human sourced food. They’re doing very well supplementing their diet with things found in and around our homes.”

Good habitat and accessible diet have allowed the bear population to explode in recent years. This boom has made bear encounters more frequent. According to DEEP’s annual “State of the Bears” report, sightings of bear sows with cubs have nearly quadrupled since 2015, and the number of municipalities where sightings were reported almost doubled.

Cornwall resident and business owner Will Schenke has had a lot of trouble. His business, a restaurant called the Cornwall Market, has a dumpster outside that bears have ransacked three times now. “I probably see a bear twice a week,” Schenke said.

Schenke has tried “bear proof” dumpsters that are basically just regular dumpsters with harder plastic lids and chains securing them, but Dickson says “chains won’t cut it” for bear-proofing. Neither will chemicals like Pine-Sol or the spicy things people put in birdseed to deter squirrels. “It doesn’t bother the bears,” Dickson said. “They’re not that picky when it comes to eating things.”

There are a number of steps that Connecticut residents can take to mitigate the bear problem.

“One of the simplest things to do is make sure you don’t put your trash out until it’s collection day,” Dickson said. “Another part of that, in areas where people have regular bear activity, it’s important not to feed the birds during summertime. This time of year they have a lot of natural food, and it’s actually better for the birds to rely on that natural food.” One way Connecticut residents can eliminate their birdfeeders and still enjoy birds in their yard is to rely on natural landscaping that attracts them without attracting bears.

Dickson also points business owners to a variety of bear-proof dumpsters available in the Northwest Corner. Bearicuda, based out of Litchfield, sells bear resistant and bear proof cans for residences and commercial-sized dumpsters. It also has a series of informative videos online. USA Waste & Recycling offers bear resistant roll-carts for its residential customers.

Bear-proof trash cans, removing birdfeeders and making any tasty food inaccessible to bears will make them less likely to infiltrate neighborhoods and backyards in the future, Dickson said. “Every time they can get that food reward for doing something they shouldn’t do, we’ve just positively reinforced that bad behavior,” Dickson said. “So with the bear proof cans, they’re not getting that reward. Even if they tip it over, even if they knock it around, they don’t get that reward. They pretty suddenly sort of go ‘I’m not getting anything out of this, so what’s the point?’”

DEEP started its “Be Bear Aware” campaign in Fall 2023 in an attempt to increase awareness about bear management strategies. The department publishes educational content on ct.gov/bears for Connecticut residents to learn what they can do to reduce human-bear interactions. That website contains FAQs, a map of bear sightings, the 2024 annual report and lots of educational materials about living with bears and what does and does not work.

“We’re trying to encourage people to think beyond what their personal experience with a bear is,” Dickson said. “Maybe it doesn’t matter to you if the bear tips over your garbage can and you have to pick up the trash, or if the bear raids your bird feeder and you’ve got to replace it, or you’ve got to fill it up with seed again. It’s not just about how that impacts us individually. We have to think about how that impacts our neighbors, our community, and the bears themselves.”