Community Corner
West Hartford Black Bear Incident Recalls Middletown's Bear Brush a Decade Ago
Bears coming into contact with humans isn't as uncommon as you may think — the Connecticut DEEP says 14 sightings were reported in Middletown alone last year.
The female black bear that bit a West Hartford woman Wednesday morning had a history of aggressive behavior, and was euthanized for several reasons, DEEP spokesperson Dwayne Gardner said Wednesday afternoon.
According to Gardner, the same bear had been tagged three years ago when it killed a dog. Following that incident, the female bear was relocated. He did not have information about where the incident took place.
The same bear had killed a dog three years ago, DEEP spokesperson says. Read the full story on West Hartford Patch here.
Black bears coming into contact with humans in Connecticut isn't as rare as you might think. In the past year, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, 2,374 sightings were reported between May 30, 2012, and April 29, 2013.
Towns that reported the most sightings were: Farmington, 207; Burlington, 176; Torrington, 140; Sherman, 136; Avon, 110; and Bristol, 109. Meanwhile, Middletown had 14 incidents of black bears in town.
Last June, Connecticut State Police responded to multiple calls about a bear in the center median on Interstate 91 between Exits 21 and 20.
And back in June of 2003, the then DEP captured a 187-pound male bear wandering along Main Street near the former Community Health Center offices at 635 Main. According to an article in the Hartford Courant, a resident called police at 12:55 a.m. and when authorities arrived at 2 a.m., it had climbed a small tree.
Then Deputy Police Chief Philip Pessina told the Courant it was the first report of a bear in downtown Middletown. He was tranquilized and moved to a state forest. At the time, some suspected it had come from Portland, but, according to an editorial by the late Laurence D. Cohen on July 24, 2003, other questioned how it crossed the Connecticut River.
Read the facts provided by the state DEEP here and the breakdown of black bear sightings by towns in the last year in Connecticut here. The state even provides a Black Bear Sighting Report Form.
Related stories
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
