Bears Will Kill If Warning Isn't Heeded, Colorado Officials Say

ASPEN, CO — A bear attacked a person Sunday night in Aspen, marking the third such attack over the past three months in the Colorado ski town, wildlife officials said. A large black bear bit a restaurant manager who was trying to scare the animal out of a Dumpster Sunday evening, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said.

Restaurant employees were afraid to take garbage out with the bear inside the Dumpster, so the manager went out to scare the animal off, officials said. The bear then jumped out of the bin, bit the man in the leg, and ran off.

"By attempting to scare the bear out of a Dumpster, the man exposed himself to significant danger," Matt Yamashita, a CPW wildlife manager, said in a statement. "It is likely the bear felt cornered and it reacted aggressively. As we have warned over and over again, this is the exact scenario that can happen when people and bears interact, and why it is so dangerous for bears to be around people."

Yamashita also questioned why the dumpster was open. CPW officials have sent many alerts across Colorado over the summer warning residents to never leave trash exposed.

"If people do not take this issue seriously, I believe it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed," he said. "We as a community have been lucky that injuries to humans this summer have been relatively minor, but these attacks should be taken as a serious warning to take action now."

If the black bear that attacked the man is found, the animal will be killed because it clearly has no fear of people and could attack again, wildlife officials said.

"In Pitkin County, every single night there are reports of bears in occupied homes, or attempting to break into homes or cars, in dumpsters, in downtown areas, alleys and backyards, the middle of the street, in trees, porches, breaking into businesses, approaching people, and so on," said Yamashita.

A bear bit a woman in late May while she was hiking on a trail in Aspen, and a bear swiped and injured a man in late July at a local resort.