Florida Just Approved a Black Bear Season. Connecticut Could Be Next

Connecticut is inching closer to instituting a bear season after the state Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow wildlife officials to authorize a hunt when public safety is at risk. The move comes on the heels of Florida’s approval of its first bear season in nearly a decade and is an indication of a broader trend in state-level responses to growing black bear populations.

The Connecticut Senate easily passed Senate Bill 1523 on May 22, with a vote of 34-2. The bill would amend an existing law that allows individuals to request a permit to use deadly force against a bear if it is injuring or killing livestock, crops, or honey bees to make it easier for landowners to kill nuisance bears.

But a provision tucked into SB 1523 would also authorize Connecticut’s governor to direct the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to open a black bear hunting season if DEEP finds “that bear conflicts with people, pets, and livestock in the state have reached a level that poses a public safety threat.” 

But Connecticut’s most recent State of Bears briefing, which points to a “long term increasing trend in human-bear conflicts,” suggests that conflicts may have already reached that level. DEEP estimates more than 1,200 black bears are roaming the state. In 2024, bears were reported in 159 of Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities, with thousands of reported human-black bear conflicts, which far exceeds conflicts in neighboring states where bear hunting is legal. According to the report, Connecticut had 67 instances of black bears entering homes last year and had two bear attacks on humans.

“Because the frequency and severity of human-bear conflicts have increased significantly over the past decade, DEEP supports this legislation,” DEEP commissioner Katie Dykes told lawmakers in her submitted testimony, “…we believe a regulated bear hunt is a critical and needed addition to the suite of black bear management tools we currently employ to protect the public, reduce human-bear conflicts, and support a healthy and sustainable black bear population.”

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While Connecticut’s proposed legislation sets the stage for a conditional bear season, Florida is taking a more direct approach. On May 15, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 4-1 to give preliminary approval for the state’s first bear hunt since 2015. The proposed 3-week hunt, scheduled for December 2025, would permit the harvest of up to 187 bears and allow the use of bait and dogs. The vote follows Florida’s first fatal bear attack on May 5, which claimed the life of an 88-year-old man in Collier County. A final vote for the proposed hunt is scheduled for August.