Local man ticketed, fined for shooting and killing bear
July 31, 2020 | By Cheryl Casey
The bear trap set behind the dumpsters at Cold Hollow Cider Mill is open and ready for a bear to wander inside. The warden used cider doughnuts soaked in bacon grease to lure the bear. Photo courtesy of VT Fish & Wildlife.
A Waterbury Center man was charged with violating a Vermont statute protecting black bears that wander into human territory.
Thomas A. Chaput, 50, of Kneeland Flats Mobile Home Park, shot and killed a male bear in the early morning hours, according to Vermont Fish & Wildlife records. The bear had been rifling through a trash can and was shot with a .22 caliber rifle. A neighbor of Chaput alerted the local game warden, Sgt. Warden Chad Barrett, after finding the dead bear on his lawn, according to Fish & Wildlife.
Chaput was ticketed for violating 10 V.S.A. § 4827, which requires people to first “[attempt] reasonable nonlethal measures” when protecting livestock, pets, crops, bee hives, occupied dwellings, and other humans. The statute also stipulates that persons who kill a bear must have a Vermont hunting license, report the incident to a game warden, and immediately dress the carcass.
Fish & Wildlife records confirmed that Chaput does not have a hunting license, and he failed to report the incident, leaving the bear to die in a neighbor’s yard.
Chaput was fined $320 plus a $200 restitution fee for the bear. He is expected to appear in court on Oct. 8 if the ticket isn’t paid in full by that date.
The incident occurred amidst a rash of reported bear sightings and damage around Waterbury, complicated by misunderstandings about state bear management protocols and recommendations.
Front Porch Forum postings throughout June and July reported nuisance bears from Gregg Hill Road to Railroad Street, with comments such as “I thought this was a safe time to have the [bird] feeder out,” and “We have since moved it [the trash can] inside our garage.”
Fish & Wildlife recently used a trap set near the Cold Hollow Cider Mill that also caused a stir. Two male bears had been acting threateningly towards people and damaging the Cider Mill’s dumpsters while foraging for discarded food.
Waterbury Roundabout reported on the trapping which resulted in the game warden killing the two bears. Afterward, Cold Hollow Cider Mill owner Paul Brown responded with a letter posted on social media and sent to the Roundabout. He explained that they “contacted the game warden as a last resort after the bears began acting aggressively toward our customers and employees.”
Brown’s statement described the measures taken by the Cider Mill to deter the bears, which included “secur[ing] the dumpsters with straps, plywood, 2 x 12’s, and finally, metal grating (which worked). Unfortunately, the bears were still not leaving and, in fact...one even attacked an occupied car.”
In an interview last week, Barrett credited the Cider Mill with taking appropriate measures against the bears but stated that once bears become habituated to finding food in a certain location, they are likely to return.
Brown in his statement added that he believed the bears were released in Moretown. But both Barrett and state Bear Research Project Leader Forrest Hammond confirmed this was not the case.
A veteran wildlife biologist, Hammond explained that whenever possible in the case of a nuisance bear, he consults with game wardens about “whether or not its behavior has risen to the level where it should be euthanized.” Only in the rare instances that a human life is in immediate danger will a warden act without first consulting Hammond.
In the case of the two bears trapped near the Cider Mill -- one technically on next-door neighbor Gary Thurston’s property -- their behavior had escalated such that they met the criteria for euthanisia, according to Hammond. In a state as small and increasingly populated as Vermont, relocating a bear merely moves the problem, said Hammond in an interview after the second bear was caught.
State protocol for euthanizing a bear is to use a small caliber shot to the brain. Hammond stated that this method has been “approved by university humane committees and is faster than going to a vet for a sodium pentothal shot.”
The meat is then donated to local individuals who have signed up to be on a list to receive game meat from game wardens. The person requesting the meat might be equipped and knowledgeable to process the carcass on their own, or the warden will take it to a commercial butcher.
Hammond noted that the state’s wildlife traps don’t always signal doom for a bear. Currently, he said, one trap has been deployed in Southern Vermont after two sows were hit by cars, with each sow orphaning three cubs. He and the game warden in the district is trying to catch the six cubs because “there is little chance of survival on their own.”
In this case, the traps are intended to save six young bear cubs’ lives. Hammond reported that two of the six have so far been captured and are being cared for.
As of July 23, Fish & Wildlife had received 582 bear complaints from around Vermont this year.
Cheryl Casey is an associate professor of Communication at Champlain College and lives in Waterbury Center.