GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado wildlife officials have confirmed that a bear they killed earlier this week is the same animal that attacked a 5-year-old girl near Grand Junction.
Officials made the confirmation via DNA test. The DNA was collected from the bear after it was shot and killed near East Orchard Mesa Sunday night.
Officials said the two-year-old male bear, which weighed 150 pounds, attacked 5-year-old Kimberly Cyr in her East Orchard Mesa yard early Sunday morning.
Kimberly had gone outside around 2:30 a.m. to investigate noises she thought were coming from her dog, her mother told wildlife officials.
The sheriff’s investigation revealed that the father initially thought the daughter had been camping outside in the backyard when the attack occurred. He reported that information to dispatchers when he called 911 and to deputies who responded.
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According to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, Kimberly sat down by the back door when the bear came around the front of the house and sniffed her. When Kimberly got up to go back inside the house, deputies say the bear grabbed her and "ripped her from the door."
Her mother heard the girl screaming and went outside. When the mother started screaming at the animal, the bear dropped the girl, according to deputies.
Kimberly was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, where she received around six dozen stitches.
Officials said the bear did not show any signs of disease.
