Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has dropped plans it made earlier this year to implement a bear-hunting lottery, according to the Hartford Courant. DEEP’s legislative proposal this year included the plan to decide who gets a license to shoot a limited number of bears in the state using a lottery system. The bill made it past Governor Dannel Malloy’s office and the Office of Policy and Management two months ago.
The Courant reports:
"Our thinking was this issue needed further study about the bear population, growth trends and population patterns before we went to the legislature," [DEEP spokesman Dennis] Schain said. …
Connecticut now has between 500 and 1,000 bears, and the population will double every five to seven years at its current trajectory, Hyatt said. DEEP is improving its methods of monitoring the bear population, which involves reported sightings, radio collars on bears , monitored breeding and survival rates and other methods.
Before a bear hunt could occur, DEEP would have to draft plans for how a season would work — where, when and how extensive — which would be a public process that ends with a decision by the state legislative regulation review committee. A lottery, however, would require a bill's passing through the legislature.