DURANGO, Colorado – Colorado Parks & Wildlife officers were tasked with relocating an absolute unit of a black bear on Thursday, requiring four or five officers just to get the animal out from under a deck after it had been tranquilized.
The homeowner went down the stairs to his back porch and heard the bear growl and huff at him. So, he called our CPW-Durango office. It took two darts to get this bear to go down, and then the hard work began to pull the bear out from under the deck. pic.twitter.com/lmZ6zH2201
— CPW SW Region (@CPW_SW) September 20, 2024
The older male black bear had been spotted multiple times on the west side of Durango throughout the summer, frequently getting into garbage and fruit trees. It also made a habit of visiting one specific one deck, but he hadn’t shown his face there in several weeks. However, when the homeowner went down to his back porch on Thursday he heard the bear growl and huff at him, leading him to call the CPW-Durango office.
Two darts were required to get the bear to go down and four or five officers were required to pull the animal out from under the deck. The beast was then loaded onto a stretcher with the help of a winch, pulled into a trap, given a health exam, and given a reversal drug. CPW then brought the bear away from Durango and released it where it would have access to plenty of forage.
While an official weight wasn’t taken, the consensus from staff was that the bear weighed somewhere around 450 pounds. Bears are currently in a stage called “hyperphagia” where they spend up to 20 hours a day eating with a goal of consuming 20,000 calories so they can fatten up before the winter. During this time, wildlife officials highlight the importance of remaining “Bear Aware” to reduce the risk of human-bear interacitons.
This bear took a long ride in the trap far away from a Durango neighborhood and into a place with quality bear habitat that has TONS of available natural forage this year, such as acorns and chokecherries.
— CPW SW Region (@CPW_SW) September 20, 2024
Watch as District Wildlife Manager Luke Clancy releases the bear. pic.twitter.com/yX0xjci8UE
CPW on Bear Proofing 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.
- Keep garage doors closed. Do not leave pet food or stock feed outside.
- Use a bear-resistant trash can or dumpster.
- 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.
- Don’t allow bears to become comfortable around your house. If you see one, haze it by yelling at it, throwing things at it and making loud noises to scare it off.
- Secure compost piles. Bears are attracted to the scent of rotting food.
- Clean the grill after each use, and clean up thoroughly after cookouts.
- If you have fruit trees, don’t allow the fruit to rot on the ground.
- Talk to your neighbors and kids about being Bear Aware.