Bear Bill Passes House, Heads to Governor's Desk

An amended bill alters the current laws concerning wildlife and nuisance animals.

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Lawmakers have passed a bill allowing for certain killings of bears and prohibits intentional feeding of them.

The bill had already passed in the Senate and will now head to the governor’s desk where it could be signed into law.

In several areas around the state, bears are a common part of the landscape.

“We’ve seen them up on our patio table. We’ve seen them with little cubs,” said Phil Kayan of Canton.

That experience is something many Connecticut residents are witnessing.

“We have them go through the backyard. I’ve been out there gardening, they just walk by me,” said Suzanne Hall of Avon.

But it’s not just the wooded suburbs. Recently, there was a bear in Hartford and this week a bear broke into an occupied Bloomfield home and was euthanized.

“I think really, we should protect people first than the bears, second,” said Chris Hocevar of Canton.

This bill addresses potentially dangerous situations and would allow people to kill a bear if they felt in danger.

“If there’s a bear that puts a person or a family in danger, they should be able to take some sort of action to protect themselves,” said Kayan.

The bill also would give certain people a license to kill bears if they can prove wildlife is doing unreasonable damage to property or crops.

Permits would be limited to qualified people who were properly trained to euthanize wildlife. Still, not everyone agrees with this approach.

“I still am a firm believer that they can be sedated and then transported to an outside area,” Hall said.

Hall does not support killing bears, but does agree with one aspect of the bill that would outlaw intentional feeding of dangerous wildlife.

“Don’t feed them,” Hall said. “I don’t feed anything; squirrels, chipmunks, anything. Because they then get used to that food.”

Removed from bill are two significant aspects: the idea of a bear hunt was removed in March and on Friday, an amendment was approved removing penalty for unintentionally feeding bears.

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