BOULDER, Colo. — State wildlife officers were forced to put down two bears in Boulder County over the weekend.
The bears were tagged as “repeat offenders” and were euthanized per agency policy, according to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife news release.
The first bear was removed from the University of Colorado campus on Saturday.
The 190-pound sub-adult male was in the middle of campus in a courtyard with no good avenues to get out, CPW said in the release. Wildlife officers decided they could not safely leave it and immobilized the bear with a tranquilizer.
The animal’s tags indicated that it had been previously relocated and was taken back to a CPW facility where it was euthanized, the release read.
The second bear euthanized was done so after repeated break-ins to residences up Four Mile Canyon west of Boulder, according to CPW.
That bear was trapped at a cabin it had previously broken into Saturday morning and was also taken back to a CPW facility where it was euthanized. By policy, bears that pose an immediate threat to humans must be put down, the agency said.
Wildlife officers say bears are now in a feeding frenzy known as hyperphagia, an instinctive metabolic response to the approaching change of seasons. Between now and approximately early November through mid-December, bears will search for food intensely before heading into their dens, scrounging for any available meals up to 20 hours a day.
CPW is urging Boulder residents not to give bears any reason to stay in the city by leaving out attractants and when they do wander into town in search of food, to haze them away so have a much higher chance of survival.
