A bear was spotted on July 13 in a residential neighborhood on Ridgeview Road in Orange. Screenshot of a video by Mara Saccente.
Orange has issued an alert to residents about a spate of bear sightings around town in the last few weeks.
“Many residents have been calling and reporting black bear sightings in their neighborhoods,” the notice said, directing residents to visit the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s website on living with black bears.
The bear population in Connecticut has been steadily rising over the last few decades after being eradicated, mainly because of deforestation, in the nineteenth century. As the number of bears has grown, so have encounters with humans.
Black bears are rarely aggressive toward people, but can lose their fear of humans if they find a ready food supply on peoples’ properties. Wildlife officials recommend taking measures to reduce bear attractants, such as keeping garbage locked up inside and taking bird feeders down from late March to November.