Connecticut DEEP backs regulated black-bear hunt as human-bear conflicts climb

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) staff told the Environment Committee that a regulated black‑bear hunting season should be considered to reduce growing numbers of human–bear conflicts in Connecticut, where agency data and lawmakers say incidents such as bears entering homes and raiding trash have risen in recent years.

At a long public hearing where dozens of residents, farmers, hunters and animal‑welfare advocates testified, DEEP officials described a steady rise in conflict reports and said a carefully regulated season would be one more tool, alongside education and nonlethal measures, to reduce risk. Mason Trumbull, DEEP deputy commissioner for environmental conservation, said the agency and the Lamont administration support authorization of a managed hunting season targeted at the areas where conflicts are most frequent.

“Human–bear conflicts have increased significantly,” Trumbull said in testimony to the committee. He told lawmakers the department had recorded about 3,500 conflict reports last year and 67 home entries, and that the state’s expanding bear population is projected to keep growing if no management changes are made. Jason Holly, a DEEP wildlife biologist, described long‑distance movements by individual bears and explained the biological rationale behind targeting bold, food‑conditioned animals if a hunt were authorized.

The h…