Wildlife Officers Euthanize Aggressive Bear In North Boulder

BOULDER, CO —Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers killed a bear Tuesday in North Boulder after it was showing aggressive behavior. The bear was seen on Oak Avenue going through garbage cans, and City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Park rangers and CPW officers were called to the scene.

The bear charged at the rangers and officers, CPW said. The bear had an ear tag, which showed that he had already been moved out of Boulder in 2015. Officers also believe the bear was the same one that charged at a man in early June on Hapgood Street. There are also documented reports that the bear charged at people in 2016, and charged at officers in 2017.

"In these previous incidences, wildlife officers did not have an opportunity to safely remove the bear," CPW said in a media release. "On Tuesday, an opportunity presented itself with the bear in a tree where it can be safely mobilized."

He was tranquilized and later euthanized at a CPW facility.

"The bear was in a bad location in the middle of town and wildlife officers did not feel like it was safe to leave that bear due to its location and aggressive behavior," CPW said in the release. "Because of its history, being a bear that had already been relocated, and behavior that day, it was euthanized."

It is the first bear in Boulder County that has been put down this year, CPW said.

“The City of Boulder is not a good place for bears to live and forage,” said Kristin Cannon, CPW wildlife manager, in the media release. “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.

“We can’t predict what wildlife will do and if we think there is a greater chance a person may be hurt by a bear in town, we err on the side of human safety. Not everyone is going to agree that this is necessary, but we feel we have a responsibility to make these difficult choices.”

A necropsy performed Tuesday showed it weighed 243 pounds and based on tooth-wear was estimated at 8-10 years old. Its stomach contents consisted of trash and wrappers from food products, and did not contain food from a natural bear diet, CPW said.

"Anytime a bear is euthanized, it garners a lot of attention and outcry, and rightfully so," CPW said in the media release. "When an animal is lost, we all lose a little bit of the wild that makes Colorado so great. The darkest days for any wildlife officer is when they have to put an animal down. However, these instances are the exception to all the other work CPW does with bear conflicts."

Since April, when bears first started becoming active following the winter, CPW has received 102 bear incident reports in Boulder County:

• For 72 of the calls, advice or a phone call was given to the person reporting the sighting.
• 24 of the calls required no action;
• 18 required site visits made by wildlife officers;
• hazing tactics were used on four bears;
• three have been relocated (from Broomfield, Niwot and one from Boulder just north of the University of Colorado campus).

“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.

She said there are currently four to six bears hanging out in Boulder on a somewhat frequent basis.

“As the fruit is not ripe yet, the most likely and available food source in the city is garbage and other human-related food,” Cannon said. “People can help save these bears by removing any food attractants for these bears in the city and by also hazing a bear away should they see one so that these bears do not feel comfortable living in your backyard.”

On Monday, wildlife officers relocated a bear out of Loveland. That bear had spent much of the last week within city limits by Lake Loveland, and was moved from a private residence at Highway 287 and Carpenter Road up deep into the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forests, CPW said.

Also Monday night, a bear was reported up a tree in the backyard of a homeowner by Tucker Gulch in Golden. A wildlife officer spoke to the reporting party, and learned the bear had moved on, so no action took place, CPW said.

Related:

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Black Bear Spotted In Littleton Released In South Park