BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) officers euthanized a bear they removed from the University of Colorado campus on Saturday, CPW said in a release.
It was one of two bears put down by CPW officers in Boulder County over the weekend.
The 190-pound sub-adult male bear was in the middle of campus in a courtyard with no good avenues to get out, CPW said. Wildlife officers decided they could not safely leave it and immobilized the bear with a tranquilizer.
The bear had been previously relocated out of Niwot to northwest of Nederland this past May, as indicated by the bear's ear tags, CPW said. Because relocation was not successful, the bear was taken back to a CPW facility where it was euthanized, per CPW policy.
“This is not even close to the ideal outcome for this bear, and if we had felt comfortable leaving it we would have as we do with many bears in the city, but its location made it very difficult,” Area Wildlife Manager Kristin Cannon said in the release.
The second bear euthanized was done so after repeated break-ins to residences up Four Mile Canyon west of Boulder, CPW said.
That bear was trapped at a cabin it had previously broken into Saturday morning, and was also taken back to a CPW facility where it was euthanized. CPW said by policy, bears that pose an immediate threat to humans must be put down.
Bears are now in a feeding frenzy known as hyperphagia, an instinctive metabolic response to the approaching change of seasons, CPW said. Between now and early November through mid-December, bears will search for food intensely before heading into their dens, scrounging for any available meals up to 20 hours a day.
CPW said bears can and will survive on the natural food available to them in the bear habitat west of Boulder, especially in such a wet year.
What really impacts their survival is the amount of time they spend in the city, around people. CPW urges residents to not give bears any reason to stay in the city by leaving out attractants, and when they do wander into town in search of food, to haze them away so have a much higher chance of survival.
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