Conflicts between black bears and Connecticut residents far outpace neighboring states with larger bear populations, according to a new report by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which noted a steadily increasing population and range of bears in Connecticut.

DEEP’s 2025 The State of The Bears report found Connecticut had more than 3,000 human-bear conflicts in 2024, far outpacing Massachusetts’ 645 reported conflicts, New York’s 1,194, and even West Virginia’s 1,227. The report notes that Massachusetts has twice the number of black bears.

Although most of those conflicts involve bird feeders and trash, they also include two attacks on humans and 67 incidents of bears breaking into homes in Connecticut in 2024, more than triple the amount from 2019, and vastly outnumbering the number of home break-ins in other states. 

“While bear home entries occur throughout the species extensive range in the Northeast, these events are far more common in CT. Scaled for each state’s estimated bear population size, CT’s home entries far exceed those of neighboring states,” the DEEP report states. “The number of serious conflicts involving bears is also rising.”

The number of towns reporting bear conflicts has also increased dramatically from 40 in 2019 to more than 130, with 16 municipalities reporting bear break-ins, according to the report. With no natural predators, and bear hunting being illegal in Connecticut, the bear population has been steadily growing, with increasing reports of bears with cubs. 

The current bear population is estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,200, with female bears producing, on average, 2.5 cubs per year with an 82 percent first year survival rate.

Although mostly known for troublesome nuisance issues like knocking over trash cans, more dangerous incidents have occurred. In July of 2024, a bear was euthanized by DEEP after it bit a woman in Cheshire, causing only minor injuries; a man in Canton claimed he shot a large black bear in self-defense.

DEEP has focused, thus far, on a public education campaign encouraging Connecticut residents to be “bear aware,” and secure their trash cans, remove bird feeders, and secure areas with electric fencing. Legislation passed in 2023 made it illegal to intentionally feed bears and allows farmers to get a permit from DEEP to kill a bear that is damaging their crops or livestock but annual efforts to implement a bear hunting season at the Capitol have been repeatedly rebuffed.

Of the ten states examined in DEEP’s bear report, only Connecticut does not allow hunting. Massachusetts, for example, sees an average harvest of 245 bears per year, roughly five percent of the population, although most other states saw much larger percentages tied to their bear hunting seasons. 

During the 2025 legislative session at least five bills have been proposed to establish a bear hunting season, one of which will receive a public hearing by the General Assembly’s Environment Committee on March 24. The committee has held extensive public hearings on bear hunts in the past. A sixth bill will allow for the killing of a bear if it harms livestock or domestic animals.

A bill supported by DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes that would expand DEEP’s monitoring, reporting, and management of the Connecticut bear population, and include the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, received ample pushback from both residents and environmental groups during a public hearing before the Public Safety and Security Committee.

Dykes testified that DEEP has already done most of what is outlined in the bill, but she also cited data from DEEP’s bear report, noting that home break-ins by bears in Connecticut was five times higher than that of other states, and that there have been seven bear attacks in the last five years.

“Responses to human-bear conflicts have placed increasing demands on DEEP’s Conservation Police, which spent 630 hours of staff time responding to 287 calls for service related to bears in 2024, versus an average of 211 annual calls for service in 2022-23,” Dykes wrote in testimony. “Reports of serious conflict have continued to escalate with increases in structural and vehicle damage and physical altercations with pets and people.”

However, many opponents argued the bill would be an unnecessary expense, considering that DEEP already does much of this work, and while the bill does not explicitly mention bear hunting, opponents argued against it anyway; the bill does reference “potential black bear population control measures.”

“This bill is costly and unnecessary because DEEP is already doing some of it and the rest is largely unnecessary or already known,” wrote Lori Brown, executive director for the CT League of Conservation Voters. “This issue has been raised at the legislature for many years, with hunters seeking open season and unrestricted ability to hunt bears in the deep woods where they naturally live. Hunting has no impact on bears that have been drawn into communities to take advantage of easy food sources provided by homeowners.”

“The scientific consensus is that trophy hunting will not reduce human-bear conflicts. Science shows that removal of food attractants and widespread public education is the answer,” wrote Susan Eastwood of the Sierra Club in Connecticut. “Areas in the country with more bears have fewer conflicts due to proper human behavior.”

With the weather starting to warm, bears will soon emerge from their winter hibernation seeking food. DEEP’s report indicates that reported birdfeeder conflicts rise dramatically in the month of March and remain high throughout the summer. According to the report, most bear conflicts take place in northwestern Connecticut. 

Over the last five years, there have been 16,000 bear conflicts, with trash, birdfeeders, and structure damage accounting for the top three types of conflict.

 “Because Connecticut does not have a bear hunt, DEEP has invested heavily in public education and outreach focused on reducing bear-human conflicts,” Dykes wrote. “Despite these efforts, conflicts continue to increase, demonstrating that non-lethal methods are not sufficient tactics to successfully reduce human bear conflicts.”

**This article was updated to indicate that a bear hunting bill will receive a public hearing on March 24**

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