The number of black bear sightings this summer seems to be at an all-time high. Many Litchfield County residents are wondering what happened to these once skittish animals that, historically, would rather quickly retreat into the forest than come feet from humans (not to mention boldly walking through the middle of downtown). Local wildlife experts agree that the explanation is as simple as the fact that we had a mild winter. The lack of extreme weather in the winter months of 2015-2016 guaranteed the survival of most bear cubs. Three to four different mothers were observed in Great Mountain Forest this summer, all with triplets. Typically, sows in this area only have 1-2 cubs survive infancy. There have also been numerous sightings of year-old cubs, which also get thinned out pretty quickly by a harsh winter. As the result, there’s just a ton of competition for food this summer, so bears are traveling into odd places to find something to satisfy them. Hunger is the number one factor making bears get over their usual wariness toward people and cars, so drive slowly, keep your garbage cans inside and don’t, under any circumstances, feed the bears. Once bears associate people (or houses) with food, they will never depend on the forest again. That is when bears become a real problem.

Photo by Shawn Finney.