Four bear attacks happened in the last week in Colorado, the latest sent a Jefferson County man to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries on Friday.
A female bear knocked over a fisherman and bit his legs late Friday evening near the confluence of the North Fork and main stem South Platte rivers in Jefferson County, state officials said. The bear was tracked by a dog team and euthanized early Saturday.
The three others were reported in Eagle County last Monday, Steamboat Springs on Tuesday and Aspen on Wednesday.
That’s now six attacks total on the year. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said the state is just now approaching the peak season for bear activity.
Drought has driven bears into more populated areas looking for food. Bears are starting to enter hyperphagia, which is a state where the feeling of hunger does not go away. “Bear activity increases as they attempt to eat up to 20,000 calories each day,” a CPW release said. “Historic drought has caused bear’s natural food sources to become scarce. As food is harder to find, bears may act bolder to find calories.” Colorado Parks and Wildlife is warning mountain recreators that things will get worse in the coming weeks as bears ramp up foraging in preparation for hibernation.
Go to this website for information on how to protect yourself from a bear encounter: https://cpw.state.co.us/living-bears
