Reason: Connecticut Couple Challenges Warrantless Surveillance of Their Property by Camera-Carrying Bears

Reason: Connecticut Couple Challenges Warrantless Surveillance of Their Property by Camera-Carrying Bears by Jacob Sullum (“The lawsuit looks iffy in light of the Supreme Court’s ‘open fields’ doctrine.”):

Mark and Carol Brault, 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 Mark Brault of violating a local ordinance against feeding bears, a charge that he denies. The latest wrinkle in that ongoing dispute involves the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which the Braults say has defied the Fourth Amendment by attaching a camera to a black bear that is known to frequent their property.

“Turning wildlife into unguided surveillance drones is unbearable,” Institute for Justice (I.J.) senior attorney Robert Frommer, a Fourth Amendment specialist who is not involved in this case, writes in an email. “Connecticut should paws its animal camera program so as not to infringe on Nutmeggers’ privacy and security.”