BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) has euthanized a bear it says has repeatedly gotten into garbage, and in recent weeks, exhibited aggressive behavior toward residents in Boulder.
Wildlife officers responded Tuesday to Oak Avenue in north Boulder after receiving multiple calls regarding an aggressive bear in the area. CPW said the bear had a history over the past three years of repeatedly getting into garbage, and was previously relocated out of east Boulder in 2015.
CPW said the bear had bluff charged (a false charge made by an animal as a threat) City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Park rangers and wildlife officers after they responded to the area. A short time later, the bear was tranquilized to be removed from the tree he was in, removed from the area and euthanized at a CPW shop.
On June 11, wildlife officers believe the same bear lunged at a man on Hapgood Street. CPW said it also has documented reports of the bear charging people in 2016 and 2017.
It's the first bear in Boulder County to be put down this year, according to CPW.
“The City of Boulder is not a good place for bears to live and forage,” said Area Wildlife Manager Kristin Cannon. “CPW tries many different things to prevent bears from living in the city and a vast majority of the time these do not result in the death of a bear. Unfortunately, in this instance it did."
A necropsy conducted Tuesday showed that the male bear weighed 243 pounds, and based on tooth-wear, was an estimated 8-10 years old. A photo from CPW shows that the bear's stomach was full of trash and wrappers, with no normal bear food found in his stomach.
CPW said it's received 102 bear incident reports in Boulder County since April.
“Removing this bear will not solve any of the issues Boulder has with bears and it is still up to its residents to take responsibility for securing garbage, fruit, bee hives, chickens, compost, grills and bird feeders from bears,” Cannon said, adding that there are currently four to six bears utilizing Boulder on a somewhat frequent basis.
On Monday, wildlife officers in Loveland relocated a bear to the wilderness after it had spent the last two weeks within city limits near Lake Loveland, CPW said.
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