LAKE CITY, Colo — A female black bear attacked a 74-year-old man in his home after entering through a sliding glass door with its three cubs on Thursday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said. All four bears were euthanized after the agency confirmed their participation in the attack.
CPW said it responded to the attack Thursday night in Lake City, Colorado, east of Ouray.
The agency said the bear and her cubs opened a partially cracked sliding glass door and entered the home at about 8:30 p.m., and that residents in the home were startled when they heard a loud crash and saw the bears entering through the door.
The man who was attacked grabbed a chair from the kitchen and attempted to direct the mother bear out the door, CPW said, but the bear charged him, knocking him into a wall before standing over him briefly.
CPW said the bear swiped at the man, who sustained significant claw wounds to the head, neck, both arms, lower abdomen, shoulder and calf. Emergency medical personnel treated him on scene and CPW said the man declined to be transported to the hospital.
“It’s certainly lucky we didn’t have a fatality, because it was close,” said CPW Wildlife Officer Lucas Martin in Sunday's release.
The three cubs were still inside the home when law enforcement, CPW district wildlife managers and EMS got on scene. The residents had escaped the bears by locking themselves in a bedroom, according to CPW.
The agency said a Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Deputy was eventually able to haze the cubs out of the home, where they then climbed into trees.
After the bears were euthanized, they were sent to CPW’s health lab in Fort Collins to be tested for disease and to undergo a full necropsy, CPW said.
“There was no question that these were the bears involved,” said CPW Area Wildlife Manager Brandon Diamond. “It’s a terrible set of circumstances that, unfortunately, our District Wildlife Managers are routinely faced with. Clearly, these bears were highly habituated and were willing to enter an occupied house with the residents sitting just feet away. When a bear reaches this level of human habituation, clearly a lot of interaction with people has already happened, and unless communities are working with us collaboratively and communicating issues, we have no opportunity to intervene.”
Before Friday night’s attack, CPW said they had only received eight official reports of bear activity in Hinsdale County this year. The agency said bears are common in and around Lake City, and CPW said their officers have been aware of chatter on social media related to bears getting into unoccupied homes and garages in the area throughout the late summer and early fall. Some of those reports were of mother bears with cubs, CPW said.
“When we have multiple sows with multiple cubs in town and conflict is occurring based on the ongoing availability of human food sources, it creates a very complex situation to mitigate,” Martin said. “Unfortunately, cub bears that are taught these behaviors by their mother may result in generations of conflict between bears and people.”
CPW emphasized how important it is for the public to report all bear incidents to their nearest CPW office to try and prevent human-bear conflict from escalating to the level of an attack.
CPW said this is the first reported bear attack in Colorado this year. Last year, there were six reports. There have been 96 reported bear attacks on humans in Colorado dating back to 1960.
CPW said it's important for people to do their part, like removing attractants and food sources that bring bears close to human-occupied spaces.
“This is a tragic thing that has happened, and it happened because bears continue to have access to human food sources,” Martin said. “We’ve talked about this for decades – access to human food sources, including trash and bird feeders, is what leads to escalating and sometimes dangerous behavior from black bears. The result is a lose-lose for bears and people.”
CPW's tips on bearproofing your home:
- Keep garbage in a well-secured location.
- Only put out garbage on the morning of pickup.
- Clean garbage cans regularly to keep them free of food odors: ammonia is effective.
- Use a bear-resistant trash can or dumpster.
- Don't leave pet food or stock feed outside.
- Bird feeders are a major source of bear/human conflicts. Attract birds naturally with flowers and water baths. Do not hang bird feeders from April 15 to Nov. 15.
- Do not attract other wildlife by feeding them, such as deer, turkeys or small mammals.
- Don’t allow bears to become comfortable around your house. If you see one, yell at it, throw things at it, make noise to scare it off.
- Secure compost piles. Bears are attracted to the scent of rotting food.
- Clean the grill after each use.
- Clean-up thoroughly after picnics in the yard or on the deck.
- If you have fruit trees, don't allow the fruit to rot on the ground.
- If you keep small livestock, keep animals in a fully covered enclosure. Construct electric fencing if possible. Don’t store livestock food outside, keep enclosures clean to minimize odors, hang rags soaked in ammonia and/or Pine-Sol around the enclosure.
- If you have beehives, install electric fencing where allowed.
- Talk to your neighbors and kids about being bear aware.
- Keep garage doors closed.
