Prosecutors have declined to pursue charges against a Connecticut man who was criminally charged last month for fatally shooting a black bear that had been killing goats and chickens on his Granby property.
Michael Gero appeared before a judge in Superior Court in Torrington on Friday morning alongside his attorney, Timothy Brignole.
“The state does not feel it’s in the interest of justice to prosecute this case,” a state prosecutor told the judge, citing Gero’s lack of criminal history, honorable discharge from the military, and his previous attempts at non-lethal means to guard his animals from bears, including installing electric fencing.
Gero addressed reporters outside the courthouse following his appearance.
“I’m glad that this is the outcome,” Gero said. “I wish we hadn’t gotten this far. I wish that it would have been, you know, handled appropriately from the start. But there needs to be change in the law.”
Brignole said he was not surprised that the state dropped the charges against his client.
“I’m glad that the state recognized the issue and did the right thing early on and not drag it out, costing money to the state and costing money to my client,” Brignole said. “This was a problem bear, and my client felt that he had to protect himself and his family and his pets.”
“This is not a situation where a bear is walking through somebody's yard and they get poached,” Brignole said. “This is a predaceous bear that had to be eradicated. My client did the right thing.”
Taking action as the law protects bears
Gero said the bear had killed a beloved pet goat named Ferdinand and a number of chickens prior to the day of the shooting. He said on the day he opened fire, the bear managed to kill three chickens before Gero took action.
“All I see is the carnage,” Gero said, recounting the steps he had taken prior in attempts to prevent such encounters. “When it rips down an electric fence and takes out a stockade fence, what more can you do? He burst through it like the Kool-Aid Man, and it's not much more the state could do or that we could do. It's unfortunately the inevitable conclusion.”
According to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Gero called the agency on the evening of Sept. 25 to report that he had killed the bear. DEEP Environmental Conservation police then responded, ultimately issuing Gero a criminal summons.
Had he been convicted, Gero would have faced a fine of up to $500, up to 30 days in jail, or some combination thereof.
According to state law, an individual may only kill a black bear in self-defense or defense of others in three circumstances: if the bear is “inflicting or is about to inflict great bodily harm to a human;” if a bear is “injuring or killing one’s pet that is otherwise controlled in accordance with any applicable provision of the general statutes or other such regulation;” or if a bear is “entering a building occupied by persons.”
Farmers may also apply for permits from the state to kill a bear that has been documented as causing damage to crops or livestock.
“Landowners must prove that they have attempted all reasonable non-lethal methods before DEEP issues a permit,” the agency says. “DEEP personnel will only issue permits for a specific number of black bears and only for locations where the damage is occurring.”
According to DEEP, 13 bears were killed via that permit process in 2025.
Brignole believes the case, had it gone to trial, would have come down to how the state defines a “pet.”
“In this particular case,” Brignole said, ”these are my client's daughter’s and his son's pets. They all are named. They're out playing in the yard with them.”
