The cartoons and movies are correct when they show bears dipping their paws into a bee hive for some delicious honey, but wrong when movie bears are growling and showing their teeth.

A packed house of more than 50 people filled the Preston Town Hall basement meeting room recently to hear a presentation, "Bears in Connecticut" by two master wildlife conservationist volunteers for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Halyna Bourne and Jeanine Dellorfano described bear behavior, dispelled myths, offered tips on bear encounters and listened to stories about a bear that wandered through the Taftville and Greeneville areas of Norwich about 11 years ago.

Bears were common throughout New England during early colonial times, Bourne said, but disappeared by the mid 19th century, as more than 80 percent of Connecticut's once thick forests were torn down for buildings, ships, and fuel and railroad construction.

But as farms were abandoned and people moved west, forests took over pastures and cropland - hence the vast network of stone walls now found deep in the woods. Today, Bourne said, the estimated bear population is about 400 to 500 individuals, and cub litters in the past few years have been plentiful and healthy.

DEEP Wildlife Biologist Paul Rego is the state's resident experts on bears. Bourne and Dellorfano projected photos of bears and baby bear cubs to the audience. In late winter, Rego and his staff venture into winter dens of mother bears to measure and take health readings of the newborn babies.

Contrary to one myth about bears, Bourne said, mother bears do not give birth while sleeping, but they do return to sleep while the young babies nurse. Bears are not "true" hibernators, she said. Their body temperature drops 10 degrees to 88 degrees and their heart rates slow from 40 beats per minute to about 8 beats per minute.

"Bears can be aroused," Bourne said, "but you don't want to do that."

Rego tranquilizes the mother when he examines the cubs, she said.

Fall is the "seasoning of fattening," as bears prepare for their long winter sleep. Bears are omnivores, eating almost everything from fruits and nuts to flowers and leaves to small mammals, fish and insects.

"Their favorite is honey," Bourne said, showing photos of bee hives torn apart by a bear.

They also love birdseed, a favorite target of bears that roam into suburban neighborhoods in Connecticut. Dellorfano advised people to remove bird feeders from May to November.

In the past year, there have been 4,575 bear sightings in Connecticut - many of them repeat sightings of the same bear. There were no sightings in Preston, Montville or Norwich, but one in Ledyard, Dellorfano said.

In general, bears have been repopulating Connecticut from the north into northwest Connecticut, where most state bears reside. As young bears seek new territory, they have been moving slowly into central Connecticut and traveling along riverbanks.

Cubs stay with their mothers for two years, while young males are the wanderers of the species, traveling to new territories.

The stories started flying when Bourne and Dellorfano asked if anyone in the audience had seen a bear. A bear wandered through Norwich along the Shetucket River nearly a dozen years ago, exploring woods and back yards and the riverbank before wandering out of the area.

Peter Procko of Greeneville said he was driving to a Norwich Free Academy football game with his wife when he saw what he thought was a big black dog on heavily populated Boswell Avenue.

"It was reaching into a tree for a bird feeder!" Procko said.

Others in the audience also saw the Norwich bear and some speculated if it could be the bear spotted two years ago in Baltic and this year in Ledyard.

The bear program was sponsored by the Friends of the Preston Public Library, and members of the group got into the spirit of the occasion. The refreshments table included tiny bear-shaped cookies and packets of trail mix for hikers who might encounter a bear in the woods. The wildlife conservationists advised that if you do see a bear in the woods, drop your snack and keep on walking - not running.

Attendees also could take home a bear magnet and state DEEP "Be Bear Aware" post cards with tips for bear encounters and how to prevent them.

"Never feed bears!" the post card starts. "Bears that associate food with people may become bold and possibly cause property damage or, in rare instances, personal injury. Such bears may need to be destroyed."

C.BESSETTE@THEDAY.COM

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