Cop involved in bear shooting placed on leave

The Ridgefield police officer involved in the shooting of a mother bear in Newtown has been placed on administrative leave, while her two black bear cubs will be sent to a wildlife rehabilitator.

Authorities have not released the name of the off-duty officer connected to the May 12 incident on a private property in Newtown on Thursday.

“We are aware that one of our officers was involved in an offduty incident in which a bear was shot and killed in Newtown,” Ridgefield Police Chief Jeff Kreitz said in an email. “The incident is under investigation by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and we are awaiting the results. Additionally, this is a personnel matter which is under investigation internally.”

State officials said they captured the bear's two orphaned cubs in Newtown on Monday because of posts on social media encouraging people to feed the bears, potentially putting the animals in jeopardy.

“We were seeing a lot of posts encouraging people to try and feed the cubs and try and do other things that were wellintended but would have put them in a tough position,” said Jenny Dickson, director of the Wildlife Division at DEEP.

The agency had initially said the cubs would be left to forage on their own following their mother's death, in the hopes that they wouldn't need human intervention. But Dickson said Tuesday officials became concerned by social media posts that “the cubs were going to be put in jeopardy.”

“So it became much more important for us to make sure that they were safe,” Dickson said during a news conference at the Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area in Burlington that morning.

Exact details on how the cubs' mother, a well-known bear affectionately called “Bobbi,” was shot are still unclear. State law prohibits trapping or killing bears except in instances of selfdefense.

Col. Chris Lewis, the commanding officer of DEEP's Environmental Conservation police force, declined to release the officer's name on Tuesday, but confirmed the shooting did take place on private property.

He said he could not confirm whether the incident took place on the officer's property. “Once we complete our investigation, we will bring that forth,” Lewis said.

James Fowler, senior adviser on outreach and engagement at DEEP, said Monday the agency continues to investigate the shooting and is working with “a number of different groups across the state to compile a report.” Fowler said the investigation would be made public after it is completed.

Kreitz did not say if the cop has been placed on paid or unpaid leave or what Ridgefield police's internal investigation entails.

Bear cubs

DEEP Deputy Commissioner Mason Trumble used the incident to highlight the dangers of feeding bears in stark terms.

“We see some concerning trends on social media where post photos of bears in their garbage or eating out of their bird feeders, and that's not cute,” Trumble said. “That's dangerous for the bears. And so if you are either intentionally or unintentionally allowing bears to eat human food, or humansourced bears, you are harming those bears.”

Dickson explained that when bears have access to human food, they become “habituated” to humans, and lose their fear of people. “That becomes very very dangerous for them, it's also dangerous for the public,” Dickson said.

She said people should remove their bird feeders this time of year because birds have access to plenty of food, as do bears.

On Monday, DEEP officials said the two cubs had been “safely” captured. One was tranquilized after it came down out of a tree. The second was also later tranquilized and captured, the agency reported.

Dickson said the two bear cubs will be reintroduced to the wild around eight months of age, meaning sometime in the late summer to early fall. The two cubs are about four-and-a-half months old.

The cubs are both in good health. “They're awake this morning and a little bit feisty,” she said. Both will be placed with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator after final arrangements are made.

Dickson said the wildlife rehabilitator will try to minimize human interaction with the cubs, give them lots of exercise to grow their muscles and provide them with food. But teaching them to forage for their own food is also part of the process, she said.

“It's a complicated process, that's why their aren't a lot of people who do it,” Dickson said.

Neither has been given a name.

“Wild animals are not pets, and when we start to make that connection that we would with our dog or our cat, that's when we start to do things that are not in their best interest,” Dickson said.

Contributed photo “Bobbi” in an undated photo.