New Canaan Police say a black bear was seen Tuesday morning on Park Place.
This black bear was photographed on an Oenoke Lane property about six months ago, on May 31, 2016. Credit: Tom Nissley
The 7 a.m. sighting of a small black bear is the first in New Canaan since a young male was spotted on Oenoke Lane in May, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the department’s Animal Control section.
It’s late in the year for a black bear to appear in this area, and Halm said the animal may be feeding on pumpkins left out front of homes for the season.
“It’s the first for me, in such close quarters,” Halm told NewCanaanite.com. “I’m sure they are sighted in the woods upstate but one wonders why, in November, it’s still prowling this far south.”
No one photographed or shot video of the bear this time around, she said.
The animal seen in May on Oenoke Lane, just on the edge of downtown New Canaan, may have been drawn by bird feeders, officials said at the time.
The omnivorous mammal had been spotted on Weed Street in October 2014 and then made headlines in New Canaan in April 2015, when a (rescue) dog alerted his family to a black bear that had entered the rear porch of a residence. After a black bear was spotted last June on Thayer Pond Road, officials urged New Canaanites to ensure their garbage cans and bird feeders were secured, town officials issued a list of do’s and don’ts. A final sighting occurred in Hoyt Farms in September.
Halm is calling for New Canaan residents who see a black bear or a devoured pumpkin to report it to Animal Control at 203-594-3510.
Hmm, my family lived on Park Place for 34 yrs.
I assume that cover photo was a stock photo? You should say so…that bear is huge!
Thanks Gary — the cover photo was taken May 31 by Oenoke Lane resident Tom Nissley, during the last black bear sighting in New Canaan. I didn’t mean to confuse our readers here—in my defense, I did note explicitly in the article that no one took a photo or video of the bear this time around, and the same featured photo on our homepage also is in the article itself, with this caption: “This black bear was photographed on an Oenoke Lane property about six months ago, on May 31, 2016. Credit: Tom Nissley”
Interesting…we’ve been hearing a lot of coyotes around our house lately…