Overview

• A black bear was caught on video trailing an elderly West Hartford woman using a walker on June 11, prompting her and her caretaker to quickly seek shelter indoors.
• Earlier this week, two black bears approached a 13-year-old girl after she got off her school bus in the same West Hartford neighborhood.
• Jenny Dickson of DEEP says bears generally avoid people but can become food-conditioned when they associate homes and neighborhoods with accessible food.
• Officials attribute the rise in human-bear interactions to easily reachable food sources such as birdseed, pet food and unsecured trash bins.
• Residents are urged to remove bird feeders, secure garbage indoors or with bear-resistant containers and never run from or attempt to feed bears.