Bear killed after breaking into several homes

By Mike Agogliati

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    CANTON, Connecticut (WFSB) — State officials killed a bear in Canton on Monday after they say it was found breaking into several homes in north Canton.

According to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, EnCon officers found that a bear had attempted to break into a home through the front door.

The homeowner, who was home at the time, reported trying to scare the bear away by ringing a bell. Although the homeowner’s dog was also barking, the bear was not deterred and tried to break in through a window. The bear did eventually retreat and was gone when officers arrived on scene.

Officials said three hours later officers received a second call, at East Hill Road, approximately 400 yards distance from the first call.

Officers responded to a residence where property owners had returned home to find the bear had entered the home by breaking through a window and ransacking the kitchen.

While officers were on scene, they located a bear at the edge of the property, about 30 yards from the house, with food items it had taken from the home. The bear showed no signs of fear or wariness of people, a response they said was not typical of a wild bear.

Based on DEEP response guidelines for a bear that has entered homes or attempted to enter occupied homes, and shows no signs of fear or aversion to humans, the decision was made to euthanize the bear for the safety of the public.

After the bear was euthanized, officers on scene located four six-month-old cubs that were in a nearby tree. Due to the risks of further habituation, DEEP made the decision to attempt to safely capture the cubs for evaluation and relocation. All four were captured, but unfortunately one of the cubs did not revive after being tranquilized and died.

Officials said the surviving three cubs were released to a remote wooded area with excellent bear habitat where they can forage for natural food sources free from the risks of human interaction or habituation.

DEEP received numerous reports over the last couple of weeks from the area regarding a bear with four cubs repeatedly breaking into homes, sometimes with occupants inside, including minors. DEEP believes the bear from these reports is the same bear that was euthanized.

The bear had been aversively conditioned multiple times in the past week by DEEP EnCon Police and continued to break into homes despite these efforts. Officials set three traps for this bear in an attempt to capture it; but the bear did not enter any of the traps and continued to exhibit increasingly dangerous behavior.

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