WINSTED.- Trapped inside a car, the adult black bear and cub thrashed about. The horn was blaring and the radio was blasting. Outside the car, a second cub ran back and forth in obvious distress near a Connecticut home.
On the morning of July 15, the frightened owner of the vehicle called state environmental police officers. They opened a door and the two bears fled into the forest unharmed along with the third. The interior of the car, however, was completely destroyed.
The incident occurred in Winsted, in the far northwest corner of the state, not far from Massachusetts. The incident was documented in photos and a video taken by the car’s owner, who captured cellphone footage of the bears in the car and the resulting destruction. Authorities believe they got into the vehicle by opening a door, but it is unclear how it was then closed.
There have been three bear-related incidents in Connecticut in one week that have been publicly reported by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, another sign of the state’s growing black bear population.
On Saturday, a woman reported being bitten by a black bear in a backyard in Cheshire. She suffered minor injuries and refused treatment, according to authorities. Environmental conservation police found and euthanized the bear, which was taken for testing.
On Sunday, a 550-pound black bear was killed by a car on a road in Torrington, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection reported.
Although bears have long been known to break into cars, dumpsters and homes in the western United States, such incidents were rare in Connecticut a few decades ago. Now they are a growing phenomenon.
In June, a person shot and killed a black bear in Canton, claiming self-defense. Last year, a bear broke into an Avon bakery, scared employees and helped itself to 60 cupcakes before leaving. In 2022, a bear damaged the interior of two vehicles in Cornwall.
The state has also seen a few nonfatal bear attacks on humans in the past two years, and an increasing number of bears breaking into homes, state officials said.
“Always keep your car doors locked if bears are in your area and never allow them easy access to human-sourced food,” said Ethan Van Ness, senior adviser at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, in a statement.
According to state officials, bears began returning to the region in the 1980s and their population has continued to grow. There are now an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 bears in Connecticut, with sightings in all 169 towns in recent years but more concentrated in the state’s far northwest corner.
Source: With information from AP