On Oct. 11, a black bear broke into a home in Barkhamsted, Connecticut, and found its way to the kitchen, where it opened the sliding freezer door, found a lasagna and then exited through the kitchen window with the loot in its mouth.
Helena Richardson, the homeowner, told WFSB that the bear stayed in the house for 35 minutes. She said, “It’s very hard to believe. My mom made some lasagna, left it in the freezer, and the bear, ya know, just took it.”
So far in 2023, there have been 34 bear home entries in Connecticut, per WFSB. The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection reported that there are 1,000 to 1,200 bears in Connecticut, and that house entries like the one above make them less afraid of humans. They said, “If they regularly find food near houses and areas of human activity, they can lose their fear of humans.”
Bear reports are becoming more and more frequent in Connecticut. Fox reported that in May, “A hungry black bear barged into the garage of a bakery in the suburban community of Avon, scared several employees and helped itself to 60 cupcakes before ambling away.”
On Oct 1, 2023, a bill went into law in Connecticut allowing a person to “kill a bear in self-defense or defense of others, but only in the following circumstances, and only if the person “reasonably believes” that the bear:
- Is inflicting or is about to inflict great bodily harm to a human;
- Is injuring or killing one’s pet that is otherwise controlled in accordance with any applicable provision of the general statutes or other such regulation; or
- Is entering a building occupied by persons.”
The law also “bans the intentional feeding of potentially dangerous animals,” allows individuals to “request permits to take bears” when they damage property, and “establishes the right to use a deadly force to defend oneself, other people, and one’s pets if attacked, in certain circumstances,” per the state’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.