Aggressive Bear That Charged Officers Euthanized

An aggressive Colorado bear was euthanized after it charged wildlife officers who were responding to reports that it was rummaging for food.

The black bear was first noticed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers in June after it was spotted going through trash in South Boulder, the CPW said in a release.

Usually, this is a sign that bears have become used to humans, which means they could be dangerous. Around 17,000 to 20,000 black bears are living in Colorado, and it is not uncommon for them to occasionally wander into populated areas.

After the officers found the bear, they attached a tag to it. They then relocated the animal to a wild area and away from people, the CPW said.

The CPW had hoped the animal would return to hunting in the wild, but just a few weeks later the bear was spotted again in Boulder and was back to rummaging through trash for food.

Officers approached the bear and tried to ward it off with pepper spray while trying to remove it from the area. During another incident with the same bear, officers tried to shoot it with a Taser, but the animal did not seem fazed and began charging at the officers, the CPW said.

After being shot with a rubber bullet, the bear ran away, but it continued to cause problems for residents. When it was spotted again in Boulder, officers arrived to euthanize the animal.

"Working with the city of Boulder, we did absolutely everything we could think of to avoid this outcome," Tyler Asnicar, a CPW wildlife officer, said in the release. "At the end of the day, human safety is our priority, so we felt we had to remove the bear."

Several worrying behavioral signs led the officers to this decision. The bear had apparently become food-conditioned, meaning it was used to eating human food and had lost its natural fear of humans.

Bears like this one can be dangerous and may not hesitate to charge at a human. But it is very unusual for black bears to display such aggressive behavior. When encountering a human, a bear will usually run away unless directly provoked.

The Colorado bear had been looking for food in the middle of the day, which is an unusual time for bears to be active because many more people are around. Bears are attracted to human food sources and can smell trash from miles away. They can become used to using trash as a food source and will repeatedly enter populated areas.

In a separate incident, wildlife officers relocated a bear that was found at the University of Colorado Boulder on July 11. The bear had not shown aggressive behavior toward humans and was relocated safely.

CPW officers will euthanize bears when they continually show signs that they could prove dangerous.

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