{"id":674980,"date":"2026-05-30T23:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/674980\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T23:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:45:15","slug":"black-bear-sightings-reported-in-meriden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/674980\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Bear Sightings Reported In Meriden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MERIDEN, CT \u2014 City officials are advising residents that a black bear has been spotted in the South Meriden area near the airport.<\/p>\n<p>As of 1 p.m., officials said a black bear is on the Meriden Markham Airport property.<\/p>\n<p>State and local authorities have been notified, according to a post on the City of Meriden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CityofMeridenCT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In an update at 3 p.m., officials said the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Meriden Animal Control left the airport after not being able to find the black bear.<\/p>\n<p>A black bear was spotted earlier in the day at the corner of Somer Drive and Godek Hill Road around 10 a.m., according to officials.<\/p>\n<p>Black bears have become increasingly common in Connecticut in recent years, with the population expanding into more suburban communities. <a href=\"https:\/\/portal.ct.gov\/-\/media\/deep\/wildlife\/pdf_files\/2026-state-of-the-bears.pdf?rev=a849aac72d5948af92a905ac1a574b27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">State officials estimate<\/a> there are between about 1,000 and 1,200 bears statewide.<\/p>\n<p>Reports of bear encounters \u2014 including animals getting into trash, bird feeders, and occasionally homes \u2014 have also increased alongside the growing population.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say most conflicts can be avoided by removing food sources and keeping a safe distance.<\/p>\n<p>Residents are encouraged to:<\/p>\n<p> Secure trash cans with tight-fitting lids Remove bird feeders during warmer months Keep pet food indoors Clean grills and outdoor eating areas Never intentionally feed bears  <\/p>\n<p>If you encounter a bear, experts recommend staying calm, making noise, and slowly backing away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MERIDEN, CT \u2014 City officials are advising residents that a black bear has been spotted in the South&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-674980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}