Bear killed near slain donkey’s farm

KENT » A large bear was shot and killed Monday within yards of the spot where a pet donkey was killed by a bear three weeks ago.

Ted Hoffman, whose donkey was killed in the earlier attack on his Fuller Mountain Road property, said a 557-pound male black bear was shot with a rifle by a caretaker around 6 a.m.

“There is no way to know, as of now, if it’s the same bear,” Hoffman said.

He and his wife, Megg, lost “one of our buddies,” a 15-year-old miniature donkey, Radar, to a bear on May 21. Two other donkeys were also injured in the attack.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection took the bear carcass and are investigating, said spokesman Dennis Schain.

“All the facts and circumstances must be determined and evaluated before any decision can be made about the disposition of this matter,” Schain said.

Schain agreed that it’s hard to say whether the dead bear was the same animal that killed Radar.

“It’s unlikely we could tell,” he said. “Probably too much time has passed to find evidence in its digestive system.”

Megg Hoffman said she’s almost certain it’s the same bear. Monday’s visit marked the seventh time since May 1 that a bear visited the couple’s property, she said.

After the caretaker killed the bear, the Hoffmans called DEEP, which took the carcass to its wildlife headquarters in Burlington to conduct a necropsy.

“That just gives us a chance to study the specimen,” Schain said.

DEEP estimates that the state has more than 700 bears and the population might be growing at 10 percent a year.

Tracy Rittenhouse, an ecology professor in UConn’s Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, said black bears, which have been spreading through western Connecticut since the early 1980s, surprisingly prefer exurban areas such as Kent to forests and rural areas.

Earlier this month, Rittenhouse published a fiveyear study seeking to answer whether there are more bears in the state or or just more reported sightings. She concluded that there are more bears, and that they are flourishing on large crops of acorns from the state’s mature oak forests.

“The assumption is that the reason bear density is higher in exurban areas is that they get added food sources,” she said. “Human housing is driving bear density.”

Kent First Selectman Bruce Adams said bear sightings in town have gone from exciting glimpses of wildlife to common occurrences.

“They’re almost like squirrels now,” Adams said. “I passed two of them on my home from Litchfield the other day.”

The Hoffmans say they feel slightly relieved that the bear is dead, but it’s a bittersweet feeling.

“Bears are still a beauty to me,” Megg said. “It was very painful seeing that one. They’re a part of nature.”

“We love animals,” Ted added. “The bears, the deer, the turkeys. All the things we see out here.”

PHOTOS BY CAROL KALIFF/HEARST CONNECTICUT MEDIA Megg and Ted Hoffman with their three remaining donkeys, Merlin, Max and Murdock, on their Kent farm June 1. A fourth donkey was killed by a bear recently.

Megg Hoffman of Kent, talks about the bear attack that killed one of the donkeys on her farm.