Bear Sightings in the Greater Danbury Area

About a month ago, a vehicle ran over a baby bear, state officials said.

"The breeding season is beginning for one," said Paul Rego, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection. "Another factor is that the juvenile bears are becoming independent and when that happens, they wander around quite a bit."

Sometimes, bears don't fare well around humans. Rego said he received a report about a month or so ago of a baby bear that had been struck and killed by a car in Danbury. He said he had few details on the collision because it was reported to him afterward.

Last Friday, members of a Boy Scout troop said they spotted a bear near where they set up their Memorial Day weekend refreshment tent at the corner of Church Hill Road and Edmund Road off of Exit 10, Interstate 84.

Earlier this week, a resident reported seeing and photographing a bear on nearby Schoolhouse Road, officials said.

Then, late Wednesday night, an animal that appeared to be a small bear was spotted running across Mount Pleasant Road near Susan Lane.

"The bears are going to be out for awhile now," Newtown Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason said. "There is going to be lots of sightings of it for the next two months."

On the heels of , black bears sightings now have begun surfacing, officials said. Bears are active this time of year, officials said.

This area has some of the highest bear sightings in Fairfield County, with about 17 reported in Newtown since last June, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

In other towns in the region, there were 19 bear sights reported in Brookfield, 17 in Woodbury, 11 in Danbury, three in Southbury, two in Bethel, and two in Middlebury, according to the DEP.

While a majority of the sightings were likely of transient bears traveling south from northern areas, the presence of a baby bear, such as the one killed in Danbury, would indicate a group has settled ino the area, Rego said.

"There's probably a small number of resident bears based on the fact that females with young are seen and they tend to not be wandering around," he said.

For now, most bear sightings have been benign, although in other parts of the state where bears are more abundant, officials said they have received reports of bears breaking into houses and killing livestock.

"The trend has been an increasing bear population and the range of bear population is spreadning southward," Rego said. "If that trend continues -- I don't see why it will not -- that means there will be more cases of human-bear interactions in the region."

Homeowners are advised to keep their garbage secured and to remove bird feeders from their residences. Garbage and bird feed are favorite sources of food for bears.

"If you live in an area where there are bear reports, try ot manage attractions around your house," Rego said.

For more information on what to do when it comes to bears, go to this webpage. To report a bear sighting to DEP, go to this form. To reach the DEP wildlife division by phone, call 860-424-3011.