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These tracks, thought to be made by a black bear, appeared on a property east of Cheese Spring Road on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016. Photo published with permission from its owner
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Here's a human shoe track next to what is thought to be a bear track. Tracks thought to be made by a black bear, appeared on a property east of Cheese Spring Road on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016. Photo published with permission from its owner
Black bear tracks appeared out back of a home in eastern New Canaan on Saturday, officials said, following the winter’s first substantial snowfall here.
State officials gave preliminary approval that the tracks—which appeared near a heavily wooded area off of Cheese Spring Road, near Knollwood Lane and the Wilton town line—were made by a black bear, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section.
The animal’s appearance serves as a reminder that bears remain in town even when they’re less visible in the winter months, Halm said.
According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, black bears “are not classified as true hibernators but their body temperature is lowered and heart rate slowed during winter denning.”
“Denning enables bears to overcome unfavorable weather conditions and lack of food during winter. Denning bears do not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate. However, they will usually wake up if disturbed during their winter dormancy. Bears commonly den under fallen trees or in brush piles, but varied sites are used, including rocky ledges.”
Black bears typically den from about this time of year through mid-March, according to the state. Females will give birth to small litters of cubs in January and February.
The last reported sighting of a black bear in New Canaan came one month ago, on Park Place.
Halm said it’s not clear whether the bear that traveled by Cheese Spring Road is the same animal. If so, the bear would have had to cross at least two major state roads—Routes 123 and 124—and other heavily traveled New Canaan streets.
The omnivorous mammal had been spotted on Weed Street in October 2014 and then made headlines in New Canaan in April 2015, when a (rescue) dog alerted his family to a black bear that had entered the rear porch of a residence. After a black bear was spotted last June on Thayer Pond Road, officials urged New Canaanites to ensure their garbage cans and bird feeders were secured, town officials issued a list of do’s and don’ts. A final sighting occurred in Hoyt Farms in September.