LITTLETON, Colo — A juvenile bear was removed from a Littleton tree Saturday night and relocated, South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR) said.
SMFR said it assisted Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and the Littleton Police Department (LPD) with removing the 1.5-year-old female bear from a tree on 7100 block of South Windermere Street.
Jason Clay, a public information officer with CPW, said that callers reported seeing a bear in the Highlands Ranch area on Friday.
On Saturday morning, more callers reported seeing the bear, and then the calls died down until Saturday evening, when more callers reported the bear in the Littleton area, Clay said.
The bear was tranquilized before being carefully brought out of the tree and to the ground, SMFR said.
Clay said wildlife officers planned to release the bear in the Pike National Forest area on Sunday.
The bear did not have a green ear tag, meaning wildlife officials have not encountered it before, and Clay said it's CPW policy to relocate a bear only once.
RELATED: Bear cub spotted in Highlands Ranch
Relocation is not a not foolproof, according to Clay. Bears can get into conflict with bears that already live in the area or can encounter traffic while trying to return to urban areas where they have previously found food.
Clay said Highlands Ranch and Littleton border bear habitats, and it is not unusual to see bears to cross C-470 into those areas through storm drains, culverts and underpasses.
Bears often find their own way out of metro areas, but Clay said that they can choose to remain in those areas if they are able to find food. Typical food sources that bears get into include bird feeders and dumpsters.
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