Following a nearly two month investigation, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police have announced on July 8 that no charges will be filed in the shooting of a black bear known locally as Bobbi the Bear.

On May 12, EnCon Police and Newtown Police responded to a report of a homeowner that had shot a black bear. The shooting left a pair of three- to four-month-old bear cubs orphaned, who, after several days and public pressure to bring them to a rehabilitator, were tranquilized, captured and brought to Kilham Bear Center, where they were named Indra and Izzy.

The goal of the Kilham Bear Center is to eventually release them back into the wild when they are older.

A press release from DEEP stated that following a comprehensive investigation, and coordination with the Newtown Police Department and the Geographical Area (GA) #3 State’s Attorney's Office in Danbury, officers have concluded their investigation into the killing of the bear known by the DEEP Wildlife Division as bear #217. Based upon the facts of the investigation, the State’s Attorney’s Office has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against the homeowner, Lawrence Clarke.

During the investigation, EnCon Police Officers interviewed Clarke, who reported the shooting of the bear to DEEP, as well as several other witnesses. The investigation determined that the homeowner had numerous encounters with the same bear over multiple days that caused him to fear for the safety of his family, for himself, and for his livestock.

In coordination with the Danbury State’s Attorney’s office, the Environmental Conservation Police reviewed the historical reports of bear #217. Since 2017, bear #217 was captured in Waterbury, tagged, and relocated on two separate occasions because it was showing signs of habituation.

Following its relocation, it had over 175 documented human interactions, most occurring in the Southbury, Redding, and Newtown areas. Based on bear #217’s behavior and frequent interactions with humans it was considered a “habituated” and “food-conditioned” bear, meaning it had lost its fear of humans and had learned to associate humans with sources of food.

Pursuant to Connecticut statutes, it is a crime to kill a bear. And when a bear is killed, Environmental Conservation Police investigate. It is the state’s attorney’s duty to determine if a chargeable criminal offense has occurred. DEEP stated that the state’s attorney’s office only files charges if there is "sufficient evidence for a specific charge beyond a reasonable doubt."

The press release states that, "due to the increase of human-bear conflicts and bears breaking into homes, further legislative clarity is needed to address bear-related incidents. For example, DEEP has proposed legislation for multiple years that, if passed, would ban the feeding of bears."

It goes on to further state that, "the habituation of bears is dangerous for both bears and people. Habituated bears that find a food “reward” such as a bird feeder, garbage can, or any other human-associated food quickly become food-conditioned and pose a greater risk to public safety and often cause damage to houses, cars, pets, and livestock. When bears associate people, pets, or livestock with sources of food, bear and human conflicts are more likely to increase. Please do your part to help keep both bears and people safe by never feeding bears, intentionally or unintentionally."

For more information on living with black bears, and how to minimize the likelihood of a conflict with a bear, visit: The Basics of Living with Black Bears (ct.gov).

Check back to newtownbee.com for additional reporting, and read our full recap of this story in the July 15 print edition.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com