74-year-old resident of Lake Metropolis, Colorado was attacked by a feminine black bear inside his house after the bear and her three cubs gained entry via a sliding glass door that was left partially open.
The folks in the home hear a loud noise and noticed the bears coming via the door. The sufferer picked up a chair and tried to shoo the bears in direction of the door however the grownup bear charged the person and knocked him right into a wall.
The bear then stood over the person and swiped him leading to important accidents together with wounds to the pinnacle, neck, each arms, decrease stomach, shoulder and calf. The person was handled at scene and transported to a hospital.
“It’s definitely fortunate we didn’t have a fatality, as a result of it was shut.” -CPW wildlife Officer Lucas Martin.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife officers responded to the scene and situated the sow and three cubs in bushes exterior the house. After preliminary affirmation that they have been the concerned within the assault, all 4 bears euthanized.
CPW used the incident to emphasize the significance of the general public doing their half to take away attractants and meals sources that carry bears near human occupied areas. That is the primary reported bear assault within the state of Colorado in 2024. Learn the total Colorado Parks & Wildlife press launch under.
Colorado Park & Wildlife Assertion:
LAKE CITY, Colo. – Colorado Parks and Wildlife responded Thursday evening when a 74-year-old man was attacked by a black bear inside his house on the north facet of Lake Metropolis after the bear and her three cubs opened {a partially} cracked sliding glass door and entered the house.
The assault occurred at roughly 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3. The residents within the house have been startled after they heard a loud crash and noticed the bears getting into via the door.
The sufferer of the assault grabbed a chair from the kitchen and tried to direct the grownup bear out the door. However the bear charged the person, knocking him right into a wall earlier than it briefly stood over him. The bear swiped on the man, who incurred important wounds from being clawed, together with wounds to the pinnacle, neck, each arms, decrease stomach, shoulder and calf.
Emergency medical personnel have been in a position to deal with the sufferer’s wounds on the scene, and the sufferer declined to be transported to the hospital.
“It’s definitely fortunate we didn’t have a fatality, as a result of it was shut,” mentioned CPW wildlife officer Lucas Martin.
When regulation enforcement and medical personnel arrived, the sow’s three cubs have been nonetheless inside the house regardless of makes an attempt by the residents to haze the bears away. At the moment, the residents had escaped the bears by locking themselves in a bed room. A Hinsdale County Sheriff’s Deputy was ultimately in a position to haze the cubs out of the house.
Two CPW District Wildlife Managers additionally responded. The sow and all three cubs climbed bushes exterior the house, and after preliminary affirmation of their involvement within the assault, all 4 bears concerned have been subsequently euthanized.
The bears have been despatched to CPW’s well being lab in Fort Collins to be examined for illness and to endure a full necropsy.
“There was no query that these have been the bears concerned,” mentioned CPW Space Wildlife Supervisor Brandon Diamond. “It’s a horrible set of circumstances that, sadly, our District Wildlife Managers are routinely confronted with. Clearly, these bears have been extremely habituated and have been prepared to enter an occupied home with the residents sitting simply toes away. When a bear reaches this degree of human habituation, clearly quite a lot of interplay with folks has already occurred, and until communities are working with us collaboratively and speaking points, we now have no alternative to intervene.”
Earlier to Friday evening’s assault, CPW had solely obtained eight official experiences of bear exercise in Hinsdale County thus far in 2024. Nonetheless, it’s common for bears to be in and round Lake Metropolis, and CPW officers have been conscious of chatter on social media associated to bears stepping into unoccupied houses and garages within the space all through the late summer time and early fall. A few of these experiences have been of sow bears with cubs.
“When we now have a number of sows with a number of cubs on the town and battle is going on based mostly on the continued availability of human meals sources, it creates a really advanced state of affairs to mitigate,” mentioned Martin. “Sadly, cub bears which can be taught these behaviors by their mom might end in generations of battle between bears and folks.”
CPW emphasizes the significance of the general public reporting all bear incidents to their nearest CPW workplace to try to stop battle from escalating to the extent of an assault.
“We typically hear via the rumor mill or grapevine of bears getting in via open home windows or getting into garages and that sort of stuff,” Martin mentioned. “Usually, folks need to get on social media and publish about it, however they by no means really name the authorities. We don’t solely need calls when one thing escalates to this degree. We wish to have the ability to do some administration earlier than issues get to this degree.”
That is the primary reported bear assault in Colorado in 2024, in contrast with six experiences in 2023. There have been 96 reported bear assaults on people in Colorado relationship again to 1960.
CPW stresses the significance of the general public doing their half to take away attractants and meals sources that carry bears near human-occupied areas.
“This can be a tragic factor that has occurred, and it occurred as a result of bears proceed to have entry to human meals sources,” Martin mentioned. “We’ve talked about this for many years – entry to human meals sources, together with trash and chook feeders, is what results in escalating and typically harmful habits from black bears. The result’s a lose-lose for bears and folks.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife affords the following pointers and precautions that will help you stop human/wildlife conflicts that may additionally save a bear’s life.
Bearproofing your private home:
- Preserve rubbish in a well-secured location.
- Solely put out rubbish on the morning of pickup.
- Clear rubbish cans recurrently to maintain them freed from meals odors: ammonia is efficient.
- Use a bear-resistant trash can or dumpster.
- Don’t depart pet meals or inventory feed exterior.
- Chook feeders are a significant supply of bear/human conflicts. Entice birds naturally with flowers and water baths. Don’t hold chook feeders from April 15 to Nov. 15.
- Don’t appeal to different wildlife by feeding them, reminiscent of deer, turkeys or small mammals.
- Don’t enable bears to turn into snug round your own home. If you happen to see one, yell at it, throw issues at it, make noise to scare it off.
- Safe compost piles. Bears are drawn to the scent of rotting meals.
- Clear the grill after every use.
- Clear-up completely after picnics within the yard or on the deck.
- You probably have fruit bushes, don’t enable the fruit to rot on the bottom.
- If you happen to maintain small livestock, maintain animals in a totally coated enclosure. Assemble electrical fencing if attainable. Don’t retailer livestock meals exterior, maintain enclosures clear to reduce odors, hold rags soaked in ammonia and/or Pine-Sol across the enclosure.
- You probably have beehives, set up electrical fencing the place allowed.
- Discuss to your neighbors and children about being bear conscious.
- Preserve storage doorways closed.
