PHOTOS! Black Bear Sighted In Clinton July 3

Update July 3, 4pm:  Clinton Animal Control Officer Donna Cavanaugh said she saw the bear today on Woodland Drive. It was also spotted on Cow Hill Road by about six people.

One of the homeowners on Woodland Drive took these photos of the black bear.

"The bear has green tags in both ears which means the DEEP has tagged it previously," said Cavanaugh.

The bear was spotted eating seed from a bird feeder in a yard.

"Please take in your bird feeders and garbage cans," advised Cavanaugh.

When she spoke to a representative from the DEEP, they said to educate the public about birdfeeders and garbage and to just leave the bear alone, letting him or her find its way back to the woods.

Earlier July 3:

The Inglis family of Clinton had quite the surprise this morning just before noon when their neighbor, Bob McDonough, told them that he had spotted a black bear in their front yard.  The Inglis' live on Country Village Lane. 

The street is a dead-end cul-de-sac off Old Nod Road in Clinton. It is across the street from Clinton Land Conservation Trust property and about 200 feet from Heser's Pond.

Kimberly Inglis said McDonough estimated that the bear weighed about 200 pounds.

They surmised that the bear had smelled their garbage cans which they had put out curb-side two days ahead of pick up time.

"The folks at the DEEP said not to do that," said Inglis.

They were not at home at the time of the sighting, said Inglis, but her neighbor stopped her husband Tommy in his car on his way home with the news.  

"What's also interesting is that my son said that he had seen something black and big in a tree in our backyard earlier this week," said Inglis.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has been notified, noted Inglis.  In addition to not putting your garbage pails out early, the DEEP said to put away bird feeders as black bears love the seed.

Here is a link to additional information on the DEEP’s website. 

In the period of July 5, 2011 to today, July 3, 2012, no bear sightings had been reported in Clinton to the DEEP.  The towns with the highest number of sightings included Farmington at 132; Torrington at 126; and Avon at 107.  The majority of towns had from 2-5 sightings listed on the DEEP website.