Civil Liberties

Jacob Sullum | 12.31.2025 3:10 PM

A few years ago in Connecticut, Mark and Carol Brault complained that state officials had strapped a camera to the neck of a black bear that was known to frequent their property. They alleged that the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which suspected them of illegally feeding bears, was employing the furry spy in an attempt to back up that allegation. That DEEP strategy, the Braults argued, violated their Fourth Amendment right to "be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" against "unreasonable searches and seizures."

The couple's claim was complicated by the Supreme Court's "open fields" doctrine, which says private property beyond the immediate vicinity of a home, a.k.a. the "curtilage," is not protected by the Fourth Amendment. But it seemed unlikely that Bear Number 119, the camera-carrying animal that Mark Brault had photographed "near the center of our property," was familiar with the finer points of Fourth Amendment case law. Assuming it was not, there was no assurance that it would confine itself to the Braults' "open fields" and avoid the "curtilage" around their home.

If police need a warrant to deploy a drug-sniffing dog on the porch of a suspected marijuana grower's house, as the Supreme Court held in the 2013 case Florida v. Jardines, similar restrictions presumably would apply when the government deploys camera-toting bears against people suspected of feeding them. The problem is that the paths of unsupervised bears do not necessarily follow judicial guidelines.

That case illustrates the point that enlisting bears in law enforcement can be legally risky. But we should not be too hasty in concluding that bears are completely incapable of complying with constitutional requirements and respecting civil liberties. In some respects, they may be better than humans.

The Braults, who own 114 acres of forested land in Hartland, Connecticut, operate a private nature preserve that charges admission to visitors interested in seeing bears and other wildlife. In a 2020 lawsuit, the town of Hartland accused them of violating a local ordinance against feeding bears, a charge they denied.

In the midst of that dispute, Mark Brault encountered a bear he recognized, but it was wearing a new outfit. On the morning of May 20, 2023, he reported, "I observed Bear Number 119 near the center of our property, within 200 yards of our residence." The bear "was wearing a video camera," which was "affixed to a collar" that DEEP "apparently had placed" on the animal. "I have known that bear for a long time," Brault said. "I know it frequents my property and adjacent properties. I know that it was tagged by [DEEP] previously, but not collared."

That affidavit was attached to a lawsuit that Brault and his wife filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut 10 days after his unnerving encounter with the camera-equipped bear. DEEP "is conducting warrantless ground-level photographic surveillance........

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