| Monday, August 17, 2026 |
| It's no secret Connecticut has a bear problem. Why the state is spending $400K to $500K in grants to count them | |
 | As it would for the typical U.S. Census taker, the work of counting bears in the woods starts with a clipboard and a blank piece of paper. Armed with this equipment -- along with bear spray and, perhaps more importantly, tick repellent -- a team of researchers has been fanning out to hundreds of survey stations set up across western Connecticut this summer to collect data on the area's resident population of black bears. Their goal is to conduct the first scientific survey of the state's bear population in over a decade. The project is a collaboration between the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Carnivore and Population Ecology Lab at Mississippi State University, which has conducted similar population surveys of black bears for several other state wildlife agencies. Instead of trying to locate bears in the wild, the survey relies on hair samples collected in barbed wire traps, which can be used to identify individual bears based on their DNA. "It's basically forensics, right," said Dana Morin, the principal investigator at the Mississippi State lab, who holds a Ph.D. in wildlife conservation. |
SPORTS
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
