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Simsbury continues to deal with bear problems

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    Simsbury, CT (WSFB) — The number of bear sightings in Simsbury continues to grow at a staggering rate.

It’s not only scaring families with young children, but it’s also eating up a good chunk of town dollars.

Playing around in front yards, to ravaging people’s fridge.

Black bears appear to be shameless in Simsbury.

“They’re everywhere. There’s no part of town that is spared,” said Eric Wellman, Simsbury First Selectman.

The First Selectman Eric Wellman gave Eyewitness News the latest internal data in town for bears.

As of October 23rd, there have been 525 sightings.

The town has used well over $10,000 with officers responding to calls.

But the real concern is the potential risk of someone getting hurt.

“We’ve reached a point where we can’t afford to just do nothing,” said Wellman.

Don Tuller of Tulmeadow Farm says bears have damaged his crops.

“They’re not going to jump in a trap when there’s three acres of beautiful sweet corn to eat,” said Tuller.

Tuller is the president of the Connecticut Farm Bureau and says bears have done damage to livestock and honey bee hives as well.

“We would support a season on bears. They’re doing a lot of economic harm to Connecticut farmers,” Tuller said.

Right now, the bear population is estimated to be about 800 and state environmental workers estimate that number will grow by 10 percent each year.

Earlier this year, a state bill to hunt bears was proposed but never made it out of the Environmental Committee during the legislative session, and animal rights activists strongly opposed this measure.

“From my understanding, a limited hunting season assuming it can be done safely is something I think state lawmakers need to seriously look at,” said Wellman.

The Department of Energy and Environmental protection logged these communities with the highest number of bear calls over the last year.

A spokesperson urges people to remove bird feeders near homes and to keep bears away from garbage, as talks continue on what to do about Connecticut’s growing bear population.

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