A Simsbury, Connecticut, family recently captured video of a black bear playing on a slide, one of two bears that showed up in their yard.
There have been 69 bear sightings in Simsbury this year, according to data from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
On April 19, Sarah Loving, her husband and two kids had just returned home from an outing when they saw the two bears.
“He made it to the landing and then went down the slide, like he had done it before,” Ms. Loving told The Associated Press, adding that the two bears stuck around in their yard for 10 minutes before moving on.
“They seemed so comfortable on the playscape. … We have not seen a bear go down [the slide] before, ever. That was a first,” Ms. Loving added.
The number of annual black bear sightings has been growing in Connecticut since the 1980s, when the species returned to the state. In recent years, the range of bears in the state, including in Hartford County where Simsbury is located, has been expanding.
Female bears, known as sows, were spotted with offspring in 89 Connecticut towns in 2024, according to a CTDEEP report. The state has 1,000-1,200 bears.
