Colorado wildlife agents remove bear from south Denver neighborhood after it climbed a tree and drew a crowd
Thanks to the drought, bears are showing up places they never have before. It's a message wildlife experts have been saying for months, and while some Colorado residents might be tired of hearing it, the people in Denver's Platt Park neighborhood got a reminder Sunday morning that no matter how tired you might be of the message, bears will come anyway and you need to keep an eye out.
"How did it get here? We're in Platte Park. We're not in Evergreen or Golden," remarked Faye Sands, who owns a home directly across from the tree the bear eventually climbed into.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the bear is a 1-year-old male. They also say they can't have a bear in such a populated area. Especially since there was a farmers' market right around the corner. So they had to tranquilize him and take him back to the mountains.
Neighbors say the first noticed the bear in the tree around 8 a.m.
"My neighbor called me. I was in bed. She said there's a bear in the cottonwood tree," said Sands.
"I didn't believe it and looked out and there he was, just a big bear," said Allison Schmidt who is neighbors with Faye Sands.
Eventually a crowd of curiosity grew.
"We went for a run, and then we stopped by Duffeyrolls. Got some food and we headed back home and saw a crowd," said another neighbor.
I really like animals, so I liked to watch them," said young London Goellick.
Neighbors in Platt Park say it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"I've lived here for over 15 years, and I've never seen. I've seen, like, maybe a raccoon, " said Sands.
"I don't think we'll ever see up there in a tree, two streets down from where we live again," said one neighbor.
Even though they enjoyed the up close and personal experience with one of Colorado's most intriguing creatures, they are glad it's all over and thankful for the CPW agents who removed the bear.
"They were so careful and caring and helpful, talking to help mitigate the crowd. They thought about everything that they could and they did a really incredible job," said Schmidt.
