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Message: [QUOTE="Lurker, post: 4009703, member: 3787"] The appearance of bears in CT likely has little to do with COVID, but rather is simply a continuation of range expansion, which has been going on for decades. CT (like most NE states that were formerly less forested) has become more inviting to bears because of suitable habitat. Adults have young, the young move away from the adult female, and those cubs need to find their own territories. Individual females with cubs might live in a territory of 5-10 square miles, whereas males about 10-50. So just think about it as new locations that have suitable but currently unoccupied bear territory now becoming occupied by resident bears that needed their own territory. It's a progression, and we're not anywhere near having our state populated as densely as it can be by bears. So human-bear interactions will increase, trash cans will be opened, houses breached, etc.. The challenge is that, unlike having more chipmunks or squirrels, an adult bear is extremely powerful and can do a lot of damage, and it can be dangerous. stay tuned... Bears in CT that have had problematic encounters with people can be trapped and released, and will have large visible ear tags to identify them as problem bears (they're tracked and on their own progression at that point). If you have a bear on your property with ear tags, be cautious about trying to encourage it to leave. An unacclimated (to humans) black bear tends to be shy - that is their more natural state. The pictured bear was about 20' away (I had been in my yard when it suddenly appeared) when I put the phone down to stop taking pictures and escalated to yelling AND banging a shovel against a metal pail. It immediately pivoted and went in the opposite direction. It's not a step I would recommend to everyone and ever situation. I've had to co-exist with bears in wilderness campsites - you develop a feel for which bears to encourage to leave in which situations compared to letting them do what they want. I didn't want the pictured bear (no tags), who was pretty relaxed, to feel welcome and make itself at home.... so I decided to be proactive to chase it away. The bear was beautiful (great face) and I admired it, but I just preferred it not making itself at home. And bobcats are also expanding. But they tend to retreat rapidly once they become aware of the presence of humans. Sorry - decided to remove the attachments so they wouldn't be used in other ways... [/QUOTE]

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