Community Corner
Updated Connecticut Bear Sightings: Where Does Ridgefield Rank?
Officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection released updated black bear sighting statistics this week.
RIDGEFIELD, CT — Officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection released updated black bear sighting statistics this week. The latest chart dates from Sept. 28, 2017 to Sept. 25, 2018 and includes municipalities with at least one sighting.
In a rare upset, Farmington, with 462 sightings, and Simsbury, with 429, both overthrew habitual front runner Avon whose residents eyeballed only 416. Try harder, Avon!
Ridgefield, whose residents know the joy is in the journey, sighted a much more modest 11 bears.
According to DEEP, the bear population is healthy and increasing in Connecticut and sightings are becoming more common. Bears spend time in neighborhoods because food sources are abundant and easy to access (birdfeeders, garbage, open compost, grills, etc.) They will readily use these food sources and revisit the same location over and over again.
Here's the full tally:
| Town | Reports |
|---|---|
| Andover | 1 |
| Ansonia | 4 |
| Avon | 416 |
| Barkhamsted | 147 |
| Beacon Falls | 6 |
| Berlin | 41 |
| Bethany | 18 |
| Bethel | 28 |
| Bethlehem | 53 |
| Bloomfield | 114 |
| Bozrah | 13 |
| Branford | 2 |
| Bridgeport | 1 |
| Bridgewater | 63 |
| Bristol | 180 |
| Brookfield | 151 |
| Brooklyn | 2 |
| Burlington | 322 |
| Canaan | 19 |
| Canterbury | 2 |
| Canton | 210 |
| Chaplin | 1 |
| Cheshire | 47 |
| Chester | 3 |
| Clinton | 5 |
| Colchester | 16 |
| Colebrook | 20 |
| Columbia | 1 |
| Cornwall | 69 |
| Coventry | 3 |
| Cromwell | 13 |
| Danbury | 77 |
| Derby | 4 |
| East Granby | 80 |
| East Haddam | 4 |
| East Hampton | 5 |
| East Hartford | 11 |
| East Lyme | 4 |
| East Windsor | 2 |
| Eastford | 1 |
| Easton | 21 |
| Ellington | 4 |
| Enfield | 6 |
| Essex | 1 |
| Fairfield | 2 |
| Farmington | 462 |
| Franklin | 1 |
| Glastonbury | 11 |
| Goshen | 95 |
| Granby | 390 |
| Greenwich | 8 |
| Griswold | 1 |
| Groton | 1 |
| Guilford | 26 |
| Haddam | 3 |
| Hamden | 91 |
| Hampton | 4 |
| Hartford | 13 |
| Hartland | 35 |
| Harwinton | 207 |
| Hebron | 1 |
| Kent | 72 |
| Killingly | 3 |
| Killingworth | 18 |
| Lebanon | 3 |
| Ledyard | 1 |
| Litchfield | 204 |
| Lyme | 5 |
| Madison | 33 |
| Manchester | 7 |
| Mansfield | 1 |
| Marlborough | 4 |
| Meriden | 10 |
| Middlebury | 79 |
| Middletown | 5 |
| Monroe | 52 |
| Montville | 6 |
| Morris | 29 |
| Naugatuck | 15 |
| New Britain | 30 |
| New Fairfield | 59 |
| New Hartford | 195 |
| New Haven | 5 |
| New London | 1 |
| New Milford | 282 |
| Newington | 8 |
| Newtown | 203 |
| Norfolk | 32 |
| North Canaan | 11 |
| North Haven | 19 |
| Norwalk | 1 |
| Norwich | 2 |
| Old Saybrook | 1 |
| Oxford | 77 |
| Plainfield | 1 |
| Plainville | 55 |
| Plymouth | 104 |
| Pomfret | 1 |
| Portland | 17 |
| Preston | 1 |
| Putnam | 1 |
| Redding | 86 |
| Ridgefield | 11 |
| Rocky Hill | 3 |
| Roxbury | 85 |
| Salem | 6 |
| Salisbury | 120 |
| Scotland | 1 |
| Seymour | 24 |
| Sharon | 72 |
| Shelton | 9 |
| Sherman | 70 |
| Simsbury | 429 |
| Somers | 3 |
| South Windsor | 11 |
| Southbury | 235 |
| Southington | 73 |
| Stafford | 17 |
| Stamford | 2 |
| Suffield | 46 |
| Thomaston | 113 |
| Thompson | 8 |
| Tolland | 10 |
| Torrington | 320 |
| Trumbull | 6 |
| Union | 5 |
| Voluntown | 1 |
| Wallingford | 7 |
| Warren | 38 |
| Washington | 64 |
| Waterbury | 61 |
| Waterford | 4 |
| Watertown | 86 |
| West Hartford | 173 |
| Weston | 3 |
| Westport | 1 |
| Wethersfield | 6 |
| Willington | 2 |
| Wilton | 3 |
| Winchester | 195 |
| Windsor | 111 |
| Windsor Locks | 40 |
| Wolcott | 69 |
| Woodbridge | 32 |
| Woodbury | 169 |
| Woodstock | 4 |
| Total | 8029 |
