Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers have caught and humanely euthanized a sow bear early Saturday, July 11 near Manitou Springs in response to the bear attacking a woman near downtown.
The attack took place in the evening Thursday, July 9 close to where the sow was captured. The sow’s cubs were sent to nonprofit Wet Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation facility in Wetmore to be raised and taught to avoid contact with humans when they are released into the wild next winter.
“We believe this is the sow that aggressively attacked one woman in Manitou Springs and then chased another on Thursday night,” said Cody Wigner, Assistant Area Wildlife Manager for the Colorado Springs region. “Our wildlife officers, working with the APHIS team, set traps and staked out the area of the attack on Friday night,” said Cody.
The intensive search for the sow came after a report of the attack came in from Manitou Springs Police. The victim was interviewed and revealed that she had was walking home from work at nearly 11:40 pm when she was charged at by the bear.
As she turned to run the bear knocked her down and scratched her back. A witness nearby reported that the bear was accompanied by her two cubs that eventually wandered off.
“This is why we say ‘garbage kills bears’ and urge everyone to secure their trash cans,” Cody said. “This is bear country. We need to keep them wild and not let them become trash bears,” he said.
For more “Bear Aware” tips, visit: https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/LivingwithWildlifeWildBears.aspx or for specific suggestions about camping in bear country, visit: https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/LivingwithWildlifeCampingBearCountry.aspx