Researchers launch first statewide black bear census in Connecticut in over a decade

A joint effort by Connecticut's DEEP and Mississippi State University's carnivore lab is collecting hair samples across western Connecticut to produce a new black-bear population estimate.

Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has partnered with the Carnivore and Population Ecology Lab at Mississippi State University to conduct a comprehensive black-bear survey in the state's western half, the first such study since 2014. Researchers have installed 340 barbed-wire traps, each lured with a small pile of sticks sprayed with used doughnut grease and a raspberry-extract-soaked tampon, and collect hair on white paper sheets for genetic testing.

By early August the field crew had amassed roughly 850 hair samples, which will be processed in Mississippi to identify individual bears and apply spatial capture-recapture techniques that account for undetected animals. The project, costing between $400,000 and $500,000 with federal wildlife-grant funding, aims to produce a population estimate by next spring to guide conservation and conflict-mitigation policies as bear sightings and home intrusions rise.

Project leaders include principal investigator Dana Morin, project manager Connor Kurz, and field technician Ben Woxman, while DEEP spokesman Bill Flood highlighted the need for updated data to shape future management. The survey’s findings will help assess bear density, habitat use, and the effectiveness of measures such as bear-proof containers and limited hunting proposals.