Several neighbors along Arrow Point Road in Warren, Connecticut, are pleading with state officials to get some help after they say their homes have been broken into by a black bear multiple times recently.

Warren resident Kristen Patrick said, in the span of just a couple weeks, her home along Lake Waramaug was broken into twice by a black bear, one time through a window and the other through her front door screen.

Patrick, who has lived in the area for 22 years, said she has never seen anything like this before. She has frequently seen bears on her property, but they have never tried to break into her home. There are no bird feeders on the property and no trash is left outside that would make a bear less afraid to enter her home, she said.

The first encounter occurred on June 20, when she went out in the morning and decided to leave her front door screen open, she said. When her and her husband came home, she saw her front door screen had been pushed in and broken.

“The house was unattended for only about 45 minutes and when we came home, we saw the whole screen was pushed in on the door. We came in to discover food was everywhere. It was just a complete mess. Our cabinets had been opened and jars of food were all over the ground. We immediately came out of the house and called animal control, who told us to exit the house and wait outside in case the bear was still inside.”

Patrick said when she finally was cleared to enter the property after waiting about an hour outside, she discovered the bear exited through another screen door on the other side of the house. After that first encounter, she said she started closing windows and locking her doors every time she went out. But that didn’t stop the bear from once again entering the property.

“Everything seemed fine and then last Thursday evening we were coming home and found that a bear had been in our home again,” she said. “This time, the bear had much more time to be in the house. It busted through the porch screen and managed to open a window to get inside. This was also a window that does not move up easily, so it took some effort to open it. It clearly jumped into the house through the window and then ransacked our kitchen area.

“The bear was able to open up our cabinets and get into the same pantry area. It tried to get into our fridge as there’s claw marks all over the front of it. It was also able to open some jars and food containers. There was pasta sauce everywhere. It also managed to destroy some of our furniture and then drink out of our toilet. The house was just a total mess,” Patrick added.

Patrick believes it was the same bear, most likely a juvenile to get through a window, that broke into her home twice. Since then, she said officials with the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection have installed cameras on her property and a electric doormat to give the bear a shock if it tries to enter the property again. The idea is that through scaring the bear, it will be less likely to enter the home.

But it’s not just a couple isolated incidents, she said. A couple on Arrow Point Road, who wish to remain anonymous, said they also have had their home broken into recently. The couple, who has lived on the same street for 25 years, said this is also the first time that a bear broke into their home.

On June 16, the couple said they came home through the garage to find a package of walnuts on the ground and found their screen door pushed in. They said noticed a large slash and realize quickly that a bear had gotten into their home. They called 911 and troopers came out to enter the home and ensure the bear was not still inside. Afterwards, they said wildlife biologists with DEEP visited their property and installed a bear cage. But the bear cage was removed after six days without catching the bear, they said.

“I’ve never seen it like this, there’s a bear on our street every week. We’ve both lived here for 25 years and never has anything like this happened before,” the couple said. “This is as bad as I have ever seen. Folks on this street are having these encounters constantly. When we spoke with the wildlife biologist they agreed there is a problem, but they said there’s very little they can do.”

Now the couple said that they are hyper-vigilant and changing their daily habits. DEEP biologists told them to shut their windows and lock their doors to keep bears out.

But they each noted that, “This is a house, not a prison. It changes the way you look at things. I used to walk by myself but I’m not doing that as much now. I’m certainly not walking in the early morning or after dinner. It really changes your behavior. You start thinking about it more and it’s very concerning.”

While state officials have come out and placed cameras on properties, some residents in the area say that’s not enough, and they would like to see more action being taken. Another resident who also wished to remain anonymous said he is concerned because of the close proximity to Lake Waramaug State Park and adjacent campground. The campground area is right across the lake from Arrow Point Road. He said that he hopes anyone camping in tents is aware of the encounters and taking precautions.

“Will anyone from the state care about the danger of letting bears invade houses and menace state park visitors until someone gets tragically hurt?” the resident told the Courant.

Thousands of conflicts between humans and black bears are reported each year and are increasing, according to DEEP. Reports of bears entering or breaking into homes occurred 40 times statewide in 2025. That number is down from 2024, when the state reported over 60 home break-ins. While the majority of human and bear conflicts are in the northwest corner of the state, the agency said they are seeing more conflicts in other parts of the state, including Hartford and Fairfield counties.

In 2025, the state also experienced three bear attacks on humans. One of those attacks involved a bear slashing a man’s chest outside his home in North Canaan. After an initial investigation, DEEP officials said there were bird feeders on the property. Just this week, a bear came within a few feet of a boy in Torrington before being chased away by the family’s dog.

Over the last six years, 265 reports of bears entering homes have been investigated and verified by the state, according to DEEP. Dozens of attempted entries also took place. Most of the home entries were through a bear breaking a screen or a window being left open.

According to the 2026 “The State of the Bears,” an annual DEEP publication that tracks their growth, the black bear population remains stable with between 1,000 and 1,200 bears and has a high potential for growth due to “an abundance of suitable habitat and excessive human-related food across their range.” Officials said they plan to update the population estimate this year for the first time in several years.

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