Orphaned bear cubs headed to wildlife rehab center

Two bear cubs that were orphaned after an off-duty police officer shot and killed their mother in Newtown were captured Monday and will be sent to a wildlife rehabilitator, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced.

DEEP officials said one cub came down from a tree and was tranquilized and safely captured. The other cub remained in the tree, but it also was tranquilized and caught just before sunset. The 4 ½-month-old cubs are to be placed in the care of a licensed wildlife rehabilitator until they are about eight months old, but the location had not been determined, agency leaders said Tuesday

An off-duty Ridgefield police officer shot and killed the cubs’ mother last week. An investigation into the shooting continues and no details have been released. Ridgefield Police Chief Jeff Kreitz said Tuesday that “this is a personnel matter which is under investigation internally” and that the officer involved is on administrative leave.

Initially, DEEP officials said they wanted the bears to stay in their home range with no interference as it was their best chance for survival. The area had plenty of food and good habitat for bears. But the Humane Society, Newtown First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and others said the cubs were too young to survive and urged DEEP to take them to a wildlife rehabilitation organization.

Multiple social media posts identified the dead animal as Bobbi, a well-known bear in Newtown. Two Facebook pages were launched — Bobbi the Bear #217 and Save Bobbi’s Cubs.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Wildlife Division Director Jenny Dickson said the cubs were well equipped to survive, but many social media posts were encouraging people to feed the animals, which would have endangered them. “Encouragement of human interference on social media” swayed the decision to capture the bears, Dickson said.

The entire state of Connecticut is now bear country, Dickson said, and she and DEEP Deputy Commissioner Mason Trumble urged people not to feed bears, to secure garbage and pet food, clean barbecue grills and take down bird feeders in the warmer months. A bear that loses fear of humans becomes a danger to itself and to people, officials stressed.

Black bears are born in January or February and weigh 6 to 12 ounces at birth, according to DEEP’S fact sheet on bears https:// bit.ly/3pqcssr. Litter sizes range from 1 to 4 cubs, with 2 or 3 being most common. Only females rear the young. Cubs are weaned at about 7 months and remain with their mother until the second summer of their lives.

Then, the young bears, especially the males, may travel great distances in search of their own territories. Yearling females frequently settle near their mother’s home range. Females with cubs tend to have restricted home ranges that average 5 to 7 square miles in Connecticut, while males move about widely in ranges of 12 to 60 square miles.

The Newtown cubs “would not have survived at this precious young age in the wild without their mother,” Annie Hornish, Connecticut state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said Tuesday. Hornish also said she has called on state officials to document transport of the bears “to provide full transparency that these cubs will be placed in a proper facility.”