Melissa in the Morning: Living with the Bears

Thousands of human-bear conflicts are reported each year and follow a long-term increasing trend. While greater numbers of conflicts take place in the western half of CT, residents report issues with bears across the state. Incidences of bears entering or breaking into homes occurred in 18 different municipalities statewide in 2025. We wanted to talk more about this with Jason Hawley, Supervising Wildlife Biologist for the Connecticut Black Bear Program. CT State of the Bears 2026 Report: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/deep/wildlife/pdf_files/2026-state-of-the-bears.pdf?rev=a849aac72d5948af92a905ac1a574b27