Mama bear, four cubs euthanized after breaking into home in Aspen
It's not an uncommon story for Coloradans; bear breaks into home, bear leaves home.
But what is uncommon is five bears all being put down in one go, four being cubs.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said last week they got a call of a bear and its cubs in a home, they dispatched an officer but a sheriff's deputy beat them there and said the bear had left.
CPW came the next morning and set up a trap for the animals in the event they came back. Lo and behold, all of them did, looking for another quick meal in the home.
CPW said the resident's window on the ground floor was not locked, and therefore the bear was able to climb in.
"A lot of people think just closing your window or leaving it open just a hair is safe but it is not," Kurtis Tesch, District Wildlife manager for CPW explained.
"Even if your window is not closed all the way, not locked, there is still that quarter inch of wiggle room that they can get their claws in and once they get it, it is kinda like a loose tooth. Once they get it wiggling they are going to work it until they get it all the way open," Tesch.
The bears were tranquilized and caged, before being moved off-site and euthanized.
"Based on human health and safety, those bears had to go, we determined that the bears were in the house and they had to be put down, based on the amount of tracks and skat in the house we came to the conclusion that it was multiple bears in the house, mom and several of the cubs so they all had to be put down at that point," Tesch said.
Right now the bears are entering a phase called hyperphagia when the animals are trying to consume as much as possible before they hibernate. CPW warned even though we've seen a lot of rain this year bears are still having a hard time finding food.
"You would think that their food source would be great right? But unfortunately, we had a late frost back in June around June 20 that stunted a lot of it." Tesch said.
