The Bear Reality at the 2015 FoH Annual Meeting

Bear cubs will be a few weeks old, snug and warm in a den with their mothers when Felicia Ortner, a wildlife biologist who specializes in Ursus Americanus, will come to Madison to talk about Black Bears in Connecticut at the Friends of Hammonasset's Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 24th at 7 PM.

Felicia has been studying about bears for nearly 30 years. In the mid 1990's Felicia turned her passion for learning about bears into a passion for teaching about them. She developed an education program called The Bear Reality.

In 2008 the Connecticut DEEP and The Bear Reality came together and Felicia began presenting bear education programs on behalf of the DEEP. She expanded her audience to libraries, schools, nature centers, conservation groups, zoos, scouts and more.

Since then, Felicia has logged over 310 outreach education hours, reaching over 5800 people in more than 190 programs in CT, NY, MA, NH and, VT. With the populations of Black Bears increasing through New England, Felicia hopes, "through outreach and education that these magnificent creatures will become better understood, we will learn to respect them instead of fear them and a strategy of coexistence with humans and bears is in the future". Black bears, the smallest bears in North America, were once extinct in CT, but with 4523 sightings in last year (2014), this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about the bears in our backyards.

Join the Friends of Hammonasset and Felicia at the Memorial Town Hall in Madison Connecticut on March 24 at 7:00 PM for this informative program. The Friends of Hammonasset will conduct a brief business meeting before Felicia begins her presentation. Refreshments will be served. Call 203-245-9192 or visit hammonasset.org for more information.

The Bear Reality with Felicia Ortner

Tuesday

March 24, 2015

7:00 PM

Memorial Town Hall

8 Meeting House Lane

Madison, CT 06443

203-245-9192