Animal 411

PHOTO, VIDEO: Black Bear in Tree Closes Upper Oenoke Ridge Road Temporarily Wednesday Morning [UPDATED]

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Update 9:15 a.m.

The black bear climbed a tree on Oenoke Ridge Road, closing the road for a time between Lukes Wood and Turtle Back Roads starting at about 9:15 a.m., officials said. He or she started coming down around 9:25 a.m.

Original Article

New Canaan Police received reports the first black bear sightings in town of 2018 on Wednesday morning, as eyewitnesses on Hickok Road  described seeing the animal around 7:20 a.m., according to local authorities. Two more sightings followed, including at the Country Club of New Canaan golf course off of Smith Ridge Road, meaning the bear is moving east-west, said Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. Halm said she originally had been concerned that New Canaan had a mother bear with young ones, since a resident had reported last month what could have been a pair of cubs, but that the bear seen May 2 was on its own. “So I feel better about that,” she said.

Animal 411

VIDEO: Bear Appears on New Canaan Man’s Front Porch Friday Morning

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BearSightingOnFrontPorchJune92017At830AM from dave freedman on Vimeo. An Indian Rock Road man on Friday morning took video of a black bear that appeared on his front porch just as his wife and 5-year-old daughter were to leave the house to catch the bus. Dave Freedman said it was about 8:30 a.m. when he glanced outside to catch a blur of something passing by the window of his home office. “Initially I thought it was a large dog because I just caught the tail end of it,” Freedman told NewCanaanite.com. “I realized it was a bear and told my wife and daughter, ‘Do not go outside,’ grabbed a camera and snapped a picture of the bear walking toward us though [the glass panes of a door].”

The sighting marks the third in just a couple of weeks, according to the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department.

Animal 411

PHOTOS: Black Bear Tracks Appear in Eastern New Canaan

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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.

News

Black Bear Spotted Tuesday Morning on Park Place in New Canaan

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New Canaan Police say a black bear was seen Tuesday morning on Park Place. The 7 a.m. sighting of a small black bear is the first in New Canaan since a young male was spotted on Oenoke Lane in May, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the department’s Animal Control section. It’s late in the year for a black bear to appear in this area, and Halm said the animal may be feeding on pumpkins left out front of homes for the season. “It’s the first for me, in such close quarters,” Halm told NewCanaanite.com. “I’m sure they are sighted in the woods upstate but one wonders why, in November, it’s still prowling this far south.”

No one photographed or shot video of the bear this time around, she said.

Animal 411

Black Bear Sighting in New Canaan

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As local Animal Control officials had anticipated, New Canaan saw its first black bear of the year on Tuesday morning. A sighting was reported around 8:30 a.m. in the area of Oenoke Lane, Seminary Street, Oenoke Ridge Road and Elm Street, according to a bulletin published by the town through email, text and robocall. Officials are urging residents to “take in bird feeders and bird food at night, do not feed domestic pets outside.”

“Place garbage cans inside a garage or shed—add ammonia to trash to make it unpalatable,” the bulletin said. Oenoke Lane resident Tom Nissley told NewCanaanite.com that he first spotted the bear at about 10 p.m. Monday. The animal’s movement triggered an automatic porch light outside, and when he looked beyond, Nissley said he spotted “a large profile.”

“I knew it was a bear and I realized this morning that it had been playing down [near] a birdfeeder,” he said.