The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) says a series of listening sessions on bear management yielded productive feedback from residents on how to live with the animals.
“No one has the same two experiences with bears,” said DEEP Deputy Commissioner Mason Trumble following the final stop on the listening tour.
“Certainly bears bring out passionate ideas from many different folks, and we saw that in many of these listening sessions,” Trumble said. “However, I think by and large the comments were respectful. I think folks were appreciative of the chance to engage with us on the issue, and, quite frankly, we were appreciative to hear from a wide variety of folks as well, which we think will ultimately help us serve the people of Connecticut better.”
The four town hall-style listening sessions were held in Burlington, Derby, Sharon, and West Hartford. The sessions come amid a rise in human-bear conflicts and bear home entries across Connecticut.
At the West Hartford event, held Tuesday at the Elmwood Community Center, many of the roughly 100 attendees expressed a desire to coexist peacefully with bears.
“I just want to protect the bears, really,” said Kathy Arky of West Hartford, who attended the forum wearing a shirt with black bears on it. “I just love them so much. I should be afraid of them, [but] I’m not afraid of them. I’ve had many encounters with them.”
Arky said she believes the solution is in communication and education. Her ideas include early childhood education on how to remain bear-safe and pamphlets to be handed out to new residents moving into towns with active bear populations. Arky said her neighborhood has a text chain they use to share bear sightings.
Others in attendance advocated for a hunt. Connecticut and Rhode Island are the only New England states without legal bear hunting.
Mark Salinas of Harwinton said he raises goats and chickens. He said bears go after his livestock and damage his fences, at great expense to him. He believes a legalized hunt would help keep the bear population in check and reduce human-bear conflicts.
“As it stands under current law, the bear population is just going to keep rising, and that probability for me gets worse and worse and worse,” Salinas said. “And I’m paying for the privilege so that no one else – you saw the emotions, they run high – but I am paying to assuage everyone else’s emotions, and so are my neighbors.”
According to DEEP, human-bear conflicts and bear home entries are far more common in Connecticut than in any other Northeast state. According to the agency’s 2025 State of the Bears report, “Massachusetts has more than two times the number of bears Connecticut does, yet Connecticut has a much higher number of reported conflicts.” In 2023, Massachusetts had 645 conflicts; Connecticut had 3,093.
DEEP supports the introduction of a hunt, though bills proposing one have not passed in the Connecticut General Assembly.
The agency says state residents should “be bear aware” by taking steps like using bear-resistant trash cans, removing bird feeders, using electric fencing, and scaring away bears loitering around your home.
“Our goal is to keep bears wild,” Trumble said. “So we want to make sure that bears stay out of your backyards, out of your trash, bird feeders, and especially your home.”
