BEARLY THERE

Bear Crashes 2-Year-Old’s Birthday Party in West Hartford Backyard

By Ronni Newton

Rauf Majidian, along with about two dozen family members and friends, were enjoying his two-year-old son’s birthday party one recent Sunday afternoon, when a large, furry, and very much uninvited guest arrived on the scene.

“We were in the backyard,” Majidian said. Children were running around and there was music– a Disney playlist – and the “Bear Necessities” was actually the song being played.

The home, near Fernridge Park and Braeburn School, isn’t in the middle of the woods, and doesn’t have an extremely large yard, but one of the guests, who was sitting near the edge of the property at a picnic table, suddenly felt a presence behind her.

She was being sniffed at by a bear, Majidian said. The guest ran away quickly, yelling to the rest of the group to get out of the way. Many ran into the garage, while sternly yelling “Go away, bear!” he said, but the bear remained unfazed.

Majidian’s wife got into her car and honked the horn. That scared away a second bear which was spotted across the street, but the original bear was undeterred, and proceeded to gorge itself on all of the cupcakes, drooling bear saliva all over the party bags at the same time. It stayed for at least 15-20 minutes while the party guests watched from inside the house.

Majidian called the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP), but it was Sunday afternoon and they weren’t given much guidance. They were told the bear had smelled their food, but Majidian said other than cupcakes and some other food for the party they don’t often have food outside. They weren’t grilling, they don’t have bird feeders or anything else that would attract bears. The family wants to be able to go outside in their own yard, and wants some guidance. Making as much noise as possible to scare the bear away and make the experience unpleasant for the bear is essentially the best they can do.

West Hartford Animal Control (860570-8818) previously shared the following advice in a Facebook post: If a bear is in a densely populated area, contact the DEEP Wildlife Division (860-424-3011, Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM) or DEEP Dispatch (860-424-3333, 24 hours) to report the sighting and obtain advice.

Bear at a West Hartford 2-year-old's birthday party. (Screenshot)

Here are some pointers:

“What Should I Do if I See a Black Bear in My Yard?

If you see a black bear in your yard, enjoy the sighting from a distance and report your sighting. Be sure you are not doing anything to attract the bear to your yard. Attempt to scare the bear off by making noise, such as banging pots and pans, shouting or using an air horn or whistle. Once the bear has left the area, take a close look at your yard for potential bear food sources, such as bird feeders, pet food, dirty barbecue grills, open compost, or trash, and remove those food sources immediately. Bears have incredible long-term memory and will revisit places where they have found food, even months or years later. Bears that are frequently fed, either intentionally or unintentionally through bird feeders or garbage, may become habituated and lose their fear of people.

When Can I Put Out Bird Feeders?

If you choose to put out bird feeders, do so in the winter months from December through late-March when bears are in their dens. Although most bears enter dens at some point, some can remain active for portions of or the entire winter season if food is available. It is important that you remove bird feeders at the first sign of bear activity.

If you live in an area with bears, it is best to avoid bird feeders altogether. Bears that find bird feeders will often repeatedly visit the site in search of food day after day and year after year. Bird feeders and other bird food will attract bears closer to homes and humans. When bears begin to use human-associated food sources, they will frequent residential areas, lose their fear of humans, and not flee when harassed. They can even cause damage by breaking into outbuildings and homes in search of food.

For those who enjoy watching birds, establish native plants in your yard and add water.

This article is an excerpt of an article that appeared in we-ha.com and is reprinted here with permission.