Over the weekend, a very clever opinion piece appeared in the CT Insider, where John Breunig made the case for Connecticut residents to rethink their behavior before enacting a bear hunt.

Breunig notes the “tiresome” calls for a bear hunt and opines that the calls are fueled by bear sightings gone viral via social media. Humorously, Breunig even pitches “playing fair” and giving bears access to social media and crowdsourcing apps.

Taking a more critical tone, John Breunig reviews the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s record of home break-ins by bears in 2024 and 2025, which Friends of Animals received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

“I live in a wooded neighborhood and favor best practices over a gun. It’s not like a hunt would take place in suburban kitchens,” writes Breunig.

It’s these very entries that have been wielded by gun-loving hunt enthusiasts; but FoA has time after time shone a light on how easily preventable the vast majority of these encounters are, and how residents are essentially inviting bears in with their behavior.

Breunig continues, “the most obvious takeaway is that some people who live in bear country can be as impractical as New Canaan residents who leave the Lexus unlocked with the keys in the cupholder. Many of the incidents involve bears scoffing at screens. Some people insist guns are needed to stop bears. Others apparently think mesh screens will do the job.”

“keep a bear whistle or glass jar of coins handy (bears loathe the rattle). Use trash cans that are bear resistant. Install electric fencing to protect those chickens you picked up as a COVID hobby. Swap out lever door handles for round ones (using that lack of opposable thumbs to your advantage). Only put out bird feeders during winter.

“In other words, don’t host an open house buffet and then shoot the neighbors when they show up for the feast.”

Read the full article here.