When it comes to Connecticut's increasingly troublesome relationship with black bears, both candidates in this year's governor's race are in agreement on a somewhat controversial solution.
Gov. Ned Lamont, the Democratic incumbent, and his opponent, Republican Sen. Ryan Fazio, have both supported measures in recent years to allow the hunting of black bears. Those efforts have been repeatedly defeated by opponents of hunting who argue that non-lethal means can be effective at reducing conflicts with people.
Connecticut is home to between 1,000 and 1,200 black bears, with the population concentrated largely in the state's northwest corner. Encounters with people — including home break-ins and attacks on livestock — have risen in recent years, according to wildlife officials.
However, Connecticut is one of only two states in the Northeast that does not allow bear hunting. The other, Rhode Island, has fewer than a dozen bears.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which tracks and helps manage the state's bear population, has repeatedly sought support from lawmakers to establish a regulated hunting season, with Lamont's backing. Lamont was also asked about the idea during a Democratic primary debate in July, saying he supported a hunt. His opponent in the primary, Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, said he was opposed.
"The governor supports a limited and carefully regulated bear hunt because Connecticut’s bear population is continuing to grow and we’re seeing more and more conflicts between bears and people every year," Lamont campaign spokesperson Lauren Gray said in a statement. "Bears are now in all 169 towns, and residents are dealing with bears getting into homes, damaging property and threatening pets and livestock. We’ve tried education, prevention and other measures, and those efforts will continue, but the governor believes we also need to have additional tools available to manage the population and keep people safe."
Gray added, "That doesn’t mean an unlimited hunt. Any hunt should be regulated and based on the best available science, with DEEP determining the appropriate limits."
The most recent serious effort to enact a bear hunt came in 2025, when a bill dealing with the killing of nuisance bears was amended in the Senate to give the governor the ability to order DEEP to schedule a hunting season if the number of conflicts rise to a level that poses "a threat to public safety." Fazio voted for the amended bill, which passed the chamber on a bipartisan vote of 34-2.
In the House, however, opponents amended the bill again in the final hours of the legislative session to remove the language permitting a hunt. The bill died upon returning to the Senate.
In an interview last week, Fazio said that having a "controlled and regulated bear hunt" is necessary to protect public safety. He specifically pointed to an incident in 2022, when a black bear attacked and injured a 12-year-old boy in Morris.
"We know the bear population is increasing at an unsustainable rate, especially in northwest and north-central and western Connecticut," Fazio said. "Bears are smarter animals than most, and they have no fear of human beings because of our state policy currently."
Fazio also criticized the governor's lack of success in getting a bear hunting bill through the legislature, despite having a 2-1 majority of Democrats in both chambers.
"I think if you can't get it done in eight years and you think it should get done, then you have a problem, and you deserve some criticism for it," Fazio said.
In the absence of a hunt, DEEP has focused its efforts to reduce conflicts on a public awareness campaign encouraging residents to take steps such as removing bird feeders and keeping trash cans indoors between the spring and fall, when bears are most active.
DEEP also hired a team of researchers from Mississippi State University this summer to conduct the first scientific survey of the state's bear population in more than a decade. The results of that survey are expected to be released in the spring.
Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, a former chair of the legislature's Environment Committee who has been an outspoken opponent of bear hunting, said state officials lack the data on bear population growth they'd need to determine whether a hunt is necessary. In the meantime, she said, more can be done to condition bears to avoid humans.
"I still contend that if the problem we're trying to solve is bears coming into neighborhoods, which is what we hear over and over again, killing them doesn't address the underlying cause — which is really the availability of human food," Cohen said.
In 2023, Lamont signed a measure passed by lawmakers clarifying the circumstances in which bears may be killed in self-defense and allowing DEEP to issue permits to farmers whose crops or livestock were damaged by nuisance bears. The law also made it illegal to intentionally feed "potentially dangerous animals," including bobcats, coyotes and bears.
DEEP has since issued 21 permits stemming from agricultural damage, resulting in the lawful killing of 36 bears.
The agency has also charged at least seven people with unauthorized killings of black bears since 2012. The majority of those cases involved claims of self-defense or defense of animals, according to a review published in CT Insider.
This story was first published by The Connecticut Mirror October 15, 2026.
