The Shelton Bear Part I - Timeline

Although there is more than one bear in Shelton, there is only one "Shelton Bear." Some called him Yogi, or Boo Boo, but most just called him "the Shelton Bear."

For two weeks, Shelton residents were riveted by the sudden appearance of this bold bruin foraging along streets and in backyards in broad daylight.  Photos of the bear were everywhere. Facebook statuses consisted of, "I just saw the bear!" His movements were tracked. He made the Channel 12 Nightly News when he turned up in Stratford. But after he wandered into downtown Shelton for the second time, the CT DEEP tranquilized him and returned him to the forest.

The bear turned out to be a male yearling weighing just 100 lbs (he was incorrectly reported as a female in the Herald -- I verified this with the CT DEEP). This is the time of year that mother bears drive their yearling sons out of their territory. The youngster is in peril as he tries to find enough food to eat while fleeing from adult male bears, which may try to kill him. Male yearlings may travel over 100 miles, and resort to foraging in marginal bear habitats such as urban areas.

Two Weeks of Crazy

Thursday, 4/30: It all started one morning when I got an email that a friend of a friend had seen a bear on Mill Street at about 8:00 am. This is in my neighborhood. Another friend soon emailed a great picture taken by her neighbor of a bear on Wesley Drive, also in my neighborhood, around 7:00 am.

The first photo, taken on Wesley Drive, went viral
(not sure who took the photo)

I posted the bear photo on the Shelton Trails & Conservation Facebook Page, and it instantly went viral. By the end of the day, the photo had been shared with over 25,000 people, the highest number of any post for our page. Others began posting about their bear sightings. Several had seen the bear unsuccessfully trying to cross busy Bridgeport Avenue. One account had the bear going out into traffic, stopping, and going back the way he came. Another had him rolling down a dirt embankment to the road. Yet another reported seeing the bear to the north on Bronson Drive at dawn.

I drew up a Google Map of the bear sightings. He seemed to have raced down from the north, where there is lots of forest and farms, until he arrived at Bridgeport Avenue during morning rush hour. On the map, these are the red markers coming down from the upper left.

Screenshot of bear sightings map (click to see full map)

At some point he did finally make it across Bridgeport Avenue, and later that afternoon he appeared in a meadow next to Long Hill Cross Road. The responding Police officers kept an eye on him until he headed into the woods. And then he was unexpectedly seen along Old Stratford Road near the Outback Steakhouse restaurant and BP gas station, right next to Exit 12 for Route 8. This was an odd place for a bear to be spotted.

And then he disappeared for three days. At the time, I figured he was just passing through and was in some other town for good. I now suspect he was roaming around the forests of northern Stratford. Maybe the Merritt Parkway and dense housing pushed him back towards Shelton.

Monday evening (5/4) he suddenly reappeared, pushing garbage cans around Daybreak Lane, just across Route 8 from where he was last seen. Route 8 is a limited access highway protected by a chain link fence, but there is an underpass at Exit 12 where the bear could have walked under the highway. He could also just climb over the fence, too.

Eating birdseed on Daybreak Lane (photo by Robin Friend)

Tuesday (5/5) he was back on Daybreak Lane at bird feeders and garbage cans. I received a second-hand report that a resident had witnessed a fight between three bears in his back yard, with the smaller one being injured. That's coincidentally when a long gash appeared on the left hind quarters of our extraverted friend, so maybe it was true. The wound became a handy marker that verified we were seeing the same bear. I was not able to verify the account of a bear fight.

An big gash appeared Tuesday, possibly from a bear fight (photo by Robin Friend I think)

Wednesday (5/6) he was still on Daybreak Lane nursing his wound.  A resident explained his routine to me. She could predict what time he would be at each house. Another resident called me  at City Hall because the bear was in her backyard hanging around her pool for hours. She was afraid to go outside. The bear got her garbage early on, and was apparently looking to get lucky again. This was a theme: If the bear found food once, he would be back again. And again. That evening I drove down to Daybreak Lane to try and observe the bear, but he never showed up. I did notice plenty of residents out walking and working in their yards, so it would seem that most people weren't too concerned.

Thursday morning  (5/7) he had finally moved on to the north and was outside a daycare center on Long Hill Cross Road next to Route 8. I just happened to drive by and see the Police seeming to guard the center, peering into the woods, and had a feeling the bear was there. They had called the DEEP, but the bear was gone by the time the DEEP arrived. The Police seemed to be getting a little frustrated with the bear at this point. Shelton residents were not accustomed to seeing a bear in their yard, and many called 911.

Friday  (5/8) he continued north up the Route 8 corridor, where he was spotted in an industrial park along Platt Road, and later on Long Hill Avenue near the Board of Education offices, where he was raiding bird feeders.

Foraging downtown off Wakelee Terrace, Route 8 in the background
(Photo posted by Katherine O'Toole)

Saturday (5/9) there was a flurry of sightings as he continued north along Long Hill Avenue and the Route 8 corridor, strolling through the middle of Long Hill Burying Ground and venturing into the edge of downtown Shelton up to about where Long Hill Ave passes under Route 8. One woman I spoke with said the bear was walking along the Route 8 fence on the Route 8 side, while she was walking her dog on the other side. Apparently her dog was not too happy about this. This was all in the middle of the day! By evening he had turned around and was back on Long Hill Avenue near the Board of Ed offices once again. He then got his own Facebook page, where he is listed as a comedian. As of this post, the page has 1,280 followers.

Tuesday (5/12) We had a heat wave for a few days, and the bear seemed to just disappeared until he was spotted by Shelton residents on a News Channel 12 video of a bear at Beaver Dam Lake Road in Stratford on Tuesday. The wound on his haunches was distinctive - this was "our" bear. It might be that the heat kept him travelling at night.

On Daybreak Lane (photo by Robin Friend)

On Wednesday afternoon (5/13) he was back on Daybreak Lane, once again foraging from garbage cans that had been set out along the street for pickup. He didn't stick around this time, but head back north again along the Route 8 corridor. That evening he was spotted on Old Mill Road and then he was back at the daycare center on Long Hill Cross Road, where this video was taken.

Spotted him today on long hill cross rd behind apple tree day care at 8:05 pm
Posted by Jason Hoefflinger on Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Thursday (5/14), his last day in Shelton, he was out foraging bright and early along Long Hill Avenue near the Board of Ed once again, then emptied a garbage can behind a house at the corner of Long Hill Ave and Constitution Blvd. where he had previous found bird seed. He spent the afternoon near this house, reappearing multiple times when least expected.

And then he was spotted downtown during evening rush hour traffic. I saw a post on Facebook from someone who had just seen the bear on Fairfield Avenue, and decided to try and get a look. I especially wanted to see how the bear acted in this urban environment and how he reacted to the presence of people. The video taken the evening before seemed to show he still had a healthy fear of people, which is good.

There he is! (my photo)

I arrived at the location and didn't see anything for at least 15 minutes. All was calm. People were coming home from work or watering their lawns, and I talked to a few people, warning them about the bear. Eventually I came up behind a patrol car driving very slowly, obviously looking for the bear, and then the bear appeared, scurrying across a lawn and climbing up between a shed and tree and over a 6-foot tall privacy fence (photo above). It was pretty impressive, and now he was inside a tiny back yard completely enclosed by a privacy fence.  Going around the block, there were two patrol cars stopped in front of the house with the privacy fence. I drove past and stopped, and then a man ran out in the road waving and pointing. I drove in his direction, and sure enough the bear had climbed back out over the privacy fence and was heading down the block between houses. 

Dodging the cops (my photo)

Snapping a few pictures (above), I suddenly noticed a little girl all by herself standing on the front porch with the bear right behind the home. I got out and asked her to go inside, which she did, and then the patrol cars moved up.

He just appeared outside my passenger side window.

At that point, I drove down to the end of the street to get out of the way and parked so I could check my phone messages. And when I looked up, the bear was right outside my passenger door window, posing in the late day sun. He looked a bit bewildered, and then turned around the way he came. In the meantime, cars were pulling onto the street. Some were people coming home from work and asked me what was going on. But others had the look of sightseers, and suddenly there seemed to be a lot of them. I figured the last thing the Police needed was a crowd of onlookers, so I left. I was very uneasy about the bear feeling surrounded and cornered downtown with all the onlookers.

What happened next was broadcast in real time via Facebook by people who lived in the neighborhood. The bear fled the growing crowd of onlookers (who were apparently mostly from the neighborhood) and climbed up a tree. Eventually the CT DEEP arrived and darted the nervous bear, who fell maybe 30 feet out of the tree with a big thud.

Some really great photos of the event were taken by Marcin Stawiarski, a wildlife photographer from Shelton, and posted on the Shelton Herald. Here are a few:

This is my favorite. (Photo by Marcin Stawiarski)

Treed!  (Photo by Marcin Stawiarski)

Finally captured (photo by Marcin Stawiarski)

This all occurred just three blocks from City Hall where budget hearings were taking place with press coverage.  Here are some articles that soon appeared in the Shelton Herald:

THURSDAY NIGHT: Shelton Bear is caught and taken elsewhere
Bear capture in Shelton turns into a neighborhood event
PHOTOS: Bear is tranquilized and taken away Thursday Night

The next day, I emailed one of the responding CT DEEP Officers Jeffry Samorajczyk, who provided the following info on our bear: "The bear was a young male (approximately 16-18 months old) and about 100 pounds. The bear was fine after being relocated. The officers did not ear tag the bear upon reaching their destination as it was beginning to wake up. They were however able to treat the pre-existing wound on its left hip. They stayed with the bear until it was mobile and checked the release site this morning to make sure it had left the area. It had."

[EDIT] Follow-up: Photos of the bear in Newtown surfaced on the Shelton Bear's Facebook Page on May 21, one week after he was transported. He was, of course, eating from bird feeders and peering into windows. His wound appeared to be healing.

In Newtown, as post on his Facebook page.