Farmington Resident Reacts to Bear Cub's Demise

Peggy Bliss, of Reservoir Road in Farmington, submitted the following statement to Patch in response to the incident last Wednesday where a Bonnie Drive resident shot a bear cub with a pellet gun.  Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials euthanized the paralyzed bear on the property, according to Paul Rego, DEEP wild life biologist. 

Reservoir Road is located slightly more than two miles from Bonnie Drive.

Dear Editor,

We live with nature up here...a bobcat, the bears, numerous deer, flocks of turkeys and the coyote family with pups live above us on the hill and in the Reservoir.   

We used to have animals: black angus, sheep, chickens, etc., and loved  just watching them graze. Anyone who has ever had farm animals will know this feeling. 

I feed hundreds of birds (three fifty pound bags of sunflower seeds a winter by just throwing the seed on a table on our patio). Even with 3 feet of snow, they get fed. Cardinals, Blue jays, chickadees, piliated woodpeckers, migrating robins...and the bear family. 

The mother, #50, bear has hung out in our neighborhood for years. Last year she appeared with the cubs. No threat to our 100 lb. dog or us. When she appears I quietly leave the garden and walk inside. And yes, they ate the sunflower seeds. They were hungry. HUNGRY.  

Fall and spring, the bear family was on our patio. The cubs were so adorable. She would groom them, cuddle them, sunbathe with them while we watched quietly from our rear windows by the hour.  Most recently, after grooming, they wandered into the reservoir stream (3' deep) - mother bear splashed and bathed and the cubs watched from the edge. 

Such a shame, Mr. Lynch overreacted.  If one lives in or near woods, expect to see wildlife. Care for it, appreciate it, admire it; don't shoot it.

Peggy Bliss

What is your response to this Farmington resident's reaction to the Bonnie Drive incident? Are you a neighbor? Did you see or hear anything involving the situation with the bears? Tell us about it from your perspective in the comments.