Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials killed a young bear — that they rescued nearly a year ago — after it wandered into a Teller County home in search of food, an agency spokesman said in a release.
No people were injured, but the bear’s actions left Parks and Wildlife officials “no choice,” spokesman Bill Vogrin said.
After their mother was shot and killed south of Woodland Park last July, likely by poachers, state officials took in two bear cubs, Vogrin said. They sent both cubs to “rehab,” fed them natural foods like acorns, nuts and berries, and taught them to avoid humans. In January they sent both bears to an artificial den on the slopes of Pikes Peak, hoping they’d emerge in the spring “as wild bears again,” Vogrin said. One bear roamed the area, eventually returning to the artificial den.Nobody was home at the time and when the homeowners returned to find a bear in their kitchen, the animal left on its own, Tim Kroening, area wildlife manager, said.
Still, the bear had to be euthanized, Kroening said. The animal wouldn’t be able to unlearn that human homes were sources of food, possibly putting people at risk in the future. “Colorado has become so densely populated that it is difficult to find a place to take a bear so that it won’t encounter human homes,” Kroening said.
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