While out and about last Wednesday in the town of Woodbury, Connecticut, where I and my family reside, a few of our small population caught a glimpse of something that is becoming more and more common around our state. A black bear was in a tree on our town's north green. After having some locals, a couple of police officers, a few members of the fire department and our first selectman gawking at him for about an hour or so following his discovery, the bear, apparently having enough of being the spectacle of the day, climbed down the tree and sulked off into the nearby wood line, without incident, as most of these encounters usually end.
With the population of New England growing outward from the urban areas and inward to the rural, human contact with black bear has increased to just under 5000 reported incidents last year alone. The result of our increasing numbers have caused the animals, which are indigenous to the state, to halt their retreat into the shrinking wooded areas and adapt to co-exist with their human counterparts. We have also seen increases in predatory animals such as coyote, fox, bobcat and the occasional mountain lion. The three latter mentioned from mostly natural sources and the aforementioned coyote due to reintroduction to our state through DEP efforts to curb the overpopulations of raccoon, opossum, squirrel and other vermin in the eighties that were believed to be tied to a rise in the rabies virus at the time. These small canine hunters were considered to be the best choice to rectify the situation in lieu of their larger cousin, the wolf, that have all been but eliminated in the northeast.
For whatever reason, natural, reintroduction or simply the personal preference to be close to their family and favorite restaurant dumpster, I, for one, am happy to see these animals making a comeback in our local ecosystem. I feel that they will bring back a balance of nature in our state that we have not had in decades, if not closer to a century, as I realized the other night how few of these creatures have crossed my path. Even though all these animals can be traced back to the days before the colonies by their native American names, in my 51 years I have only occasionally seen fox, have never seen a bobcat, bear or mountain lion in the wild in Connecticut and although being raised on farms and living in rural areas for most of my life, I just heard a coyote for the first time the other night. I have to tell you, my fellow Observers, being that it was dark, combined with the child like screech they emanate, made me step a little livelier from the laundry room to my front stoop than I normally do. After a few moments, behind the safety of my locked door, I surmised that I had just learned what the coyote says, even though they sound nothing like what my See & Say told me they would. Thanks Fischer Price.
There in lies the problem..... fear. Because for every "one" that feels the way I do about this situation there are twenty, or more, that fully believe that a coyote will attack their cat, a bear will make off with their dog and a dingo will eat their children. All due to fear, misinformation and a sensationalized media that floods all available outlets with countless reports of wild animal incidents whether they are substantiated or not, therefor adding to the frenzy. Just as my alarm in overhearing the equivalent of a small dog yapping in the woods in front of my house, most fears are unjustified and easily remedied. For example, if you fear for your pet's safety, just becoming a more conscientious owner by monitoring your pet closely, as you should, will probably suffice and I'm sure you'll go through life "when animals attack" free. Even if you choose not to follow this practice and let your pet meander through your neighborhood, the fear is still unfounded as your pet will more than likely meet it's furry maker at the wheels of an SUV than at the claws of a predator. Either way, the loss is usually the owners fault as with a little common sense the outcome could have been avoided.
These animals also have farmers and backyard hobby raisers in fear for their livestock. I will concede that there have been reports of bear attacking livestock, but the incidents have been rare. In over 7000 sighting from 2015 to present in Connecticut, only 14 involved a bear attacking or killing farm animals and most were smaller varieties such as chickens and rabbits. From what I've read about bears, even though they are omnivores, as we are, their diet seems to consist of close to 85% vegetation. Lesser parts of what they consume include insects, honey, fish, rodents, carrion, birdseed, agricultural products and refuse. Taking time to understand this diet should eventually lead any rational person to abandon the fear of bears run amok in the barnyard and realize that there's a better chance that Yogi is there to root through Farmer Fred's trash cans that he left open overnight or for the grain in his barn that he forgot to close up, rather than his cows. To finalize all this, I also have to include the malcontents that have forgotten how or are too lazy to "predator" proof their chicken coops, protect their beehives by building a structure for them and the people who don't want to take down their bird feeders. I mean.... really! Take down their bird feeders? How will these people get through the summer without chickadees and sparrows? It's not like you can just see them in your yard, you know! I suppose someone has to clue them in that although we have not had to take these precautions in a while doesn't mean we don't have a responsibility to do so now.
Although the fear of these animals may be impractical, the reality of the danger from us is defiantly tenable. The sad truth is that as I and some others look upon their resurgence in a positive light, I know that sooner or later some gun nut... excuse me... enthusiast.... wholeheartedly believing that he or she is acting in accordance within their right of self preservation or responding to what they consider is a threat to their community, will start slaughtering these creatures without mercy. Sadder still, another thing I have no doubt is just around the corner is all of us hearing about little Timmy who had the sad misadventure of playing in the woods on a Saturday afternoon getting taken out by the former president of the Charlton Heston fan club because he could have sworn he was a bear. Think I'm exaggerating?..... Just wait. As a matter of fact, we have already seen an example of the first scenario, only one town over in Roxbury, where an adult male black bear was shot to death and had it's carcass discarded like trash on the side of a less traveled secondary road. As a parent, I hope the "Timmy" speculation is not our next headline.
We have this illusion of a little perfect world for us humans and anything that doesn't fit into the perception of that fantasy has to be dealt with and dealt with quickly before we are rudely awakened to the fact that we just may not be the ultimate rulers of our world, after all. Another ruse we tell ourselves, as we trap and relocate our fears, is that the animals will be happier somewhere else.... just not here. How do we know what makes these animals happy? How do we even presume? How arrogant these little fables we tell ourselves are. Fabricated to absolve our consciences of what little guilt we feel for persecuting an innocent creature in order to serve our own selfish wants. Don't we really mean that we'll be happier that the animal is somewhere else? That's what it comes down to. Selfishness and fear and in my opinion our fear has more to do with the truth more than it does with the animals. Fear of the knowledge that most of the time when one of these interactions ends in tragedy for the human, the animal or both, it's usually the human that is to blame. Fear in knowing that we are not at the top of the food chain as some animals need no weapon to beat the life out of us. Even with our weapons we are not nearly as high on it as most would like to think as I have personally witnessed individuals injuring themselves to get out of the way of a charging mouse or escape the clutches of a rampant moth. For those of us looking for solutions to solve this problem, we can't begin by trying to figure out what can be done about the animals. The animals are simply adapting to the situation they are presented with. No, my loyal reader, the answer does not lie there. I could be wrong, but I suspect the right course of action may be finding out how to get humans to do the same thing. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I need to do the laundry.... before it gets dark.
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* Photo by Kelli Segnatelli
