UPDATE: Bears killed after cubs invade home

A black bear and its two cubs were euthanized Thursday after the younger animals went into a Broadmoor-area home in search of food, a state wildlife official said.

Michael Seraphin, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said the cubs were coaxed out of the Sanford Road home and all three animals climbed a tree. They were shot with a tranquilizer and taken away in a trailer.

The bears will be killed, a DOW official said.

Late Thursday a bear in a tree at the Wildridge Apartments, 2513 Woodside Lane, was shot and killed. Police were called about 9:45 p.m. and the bear was dead when they arrived.

There was no immediate information on who shot the bear or if it had been threatening residents. DOW officials were enroute late Thursday to help retreive the bear's body.

On Tuesday, DOW killed a mother bear and two cubs after the cubs broke into a home in northwest Colorado Springs.

Seraphin said Tuesday that once bears enter a home it's necessary to kill them because they will continue to endanger humans.

Seraphin said the recent encounters with bears are due to the time of year - bears are trying to eat as much as they can before winter hibernation.

One resident in the neighborhood west of The Broadmoor hotel said they have seen some people in the area feeding bears.

"If anyone is doing that, it's only adding to the problem and it's a death sentence for the bears," Seraphin said. "We want to keep bears wild."

Feeding bears is illegal in Colorado, but wildlife officers try to educate people about the dangers and only ticket repeat offenders, Seraphin said. 

Colorado Springs police received a 911 call from the homeowner at 11:18 a.m. after a cleaning woman was surprised by a bear cub while she was working in the kitchen.

Denise Burks said she was finishing up in the kitchen when she heard a noise and saw a bear cub entering the kitchen.

Burks said she wasn't afraid at first because the cub was so "cute." She approached the cub and got within four feet of it when the cub reached up and opened the screen door to let another cub into the kitchen.

Then she heard the homeowner's dog barking and saw the cubs' mother outside. After getting the dog to safety, Burks called the homeowner, who told her to lock herself in the bedroom.

Burks said she took the dog into the bedroom, called police and then peered out at the intruders.

"You could just hear them thrashing around," she said. "I saw one of the cubs with a bag of cookies and he looked proud of his prize."

Burks escaped through a window then police helped her climbed down a ladder from a rooftop patio.

KEEP BEARS OUT
• Many bears that enter homes do so through an unlocked or
open window or door. Close and lock all bear-accessible windows
and doors when you leave the house, and at night before you go
to bed.
• If you must leave downstairs windows open, install sturdy
grates or bars. Screens don’t keep out bears.
• Keep garage doors and windows closed and locked at night
and when you’re not home. Don’t leave your garage door standing
open when you’re not outside. Install extra-sturdy doors
if you have a freezer, refrigerator, pet food, bird seed, or other
attractants in your garage.
• Bears are great climbers — remove any tree limbs that might
provide access to upper level decks and windows.
• Replace exterior lever-style door handles with good quality
round door knobs that bears can’t pull or push open.

Get Rid of Attractants
• Bears follow their super-sensitive noses to anything that smells
like food, and can follow scents from up to five miles away.
• Don’t leave trash out overnight unless it’s in a bear-proof
enclosure or container. Obey all local regulations.
• Don’t store food of any kind in an unlocked garage, flimsy
shed or on or under your deck.

Teach Bears They’re Not Welcome
• If a bear comes into your yard or close to your home, do
yourself and the bear a big favor, and scare it away. A confident
attitude plus loud noises like a firm yell, clapping your hands,
banging on pots and pans or blowing an air horn sends most
bears running.
• If a bear enters your home, open doors and windows and
make sure it can leave the same way it got in. Don’t approach the
bear or block escape routes.
• Never approach a bear. If a bear won’t leave, call your local
CDOW office. If a bear presents an immediate threat to human
safety, call 911.
Visit www.wildlife.state.co.us/bears for more information

BLACK BEAR FACTS

Description: Black bears are the largest of Colorado's carnivores. Although called black bears, they can be honey-colored, blond, brown, cinnamon or black. They may have a tan muzzle or white spot on the chest. Although brown or cinnamon-colored bears are sometimes mistaken for grizzly bears, there are no known grizzlies living in Colorado.

Adult females are called sows. Adult males are called boars. Youngsters are called cubs.

Adult males weigh from 275 pounds. Females weight about 175 pounds. Depending on the season, food supply and gender, black bears may weigh anywhere from 100 to 450 pounds. Black bears measure about 3 feet high when on all four feet. They can be 5 feet tall when standing on back legs.

Cubs will stay with the mother bear for their first year, denning with the mother and littermates over the winter. By the time of their second spring, they will be self-reliant and will separate from their mother by the second autumn.

Range: In Colorado, the largest populations of black bears live in areas where there is Gambel’s oak and aspen, near open areas of chokecherry and serviceberry bushes. A black bear may have a range from 10 to 250 square miles

Diet: Black bears will learn to eat natural foods, such as berries, nuts and insects, as they are taught to forage by mother bears. People who live or camp in bear country need to be sure they don’t teach bears to become “garbage” bears by careless handling of food, scraps and garbage. Bears who find human food, even once, can change their habits to seek food from human residences and trash cans. Most bears seen in residential areas near or within bear habitat do not cause any damage. If a bear doesn’t find abundant food, it will move on.

Reproduction: Male bears are capable of breeding when they are 3 years old. Some female bears breed as early as 3 or 4 years of age, but 5 years is more common. After a 2-3 months of gestation, 1 to 3 tiny cubs are born mid-winter, typically while the mother is still in the den. Newborn cubs – weighing less than a pound at birth -- are blind, toothless and covered with very fine hair. When they emerge from the den in early or mid-May, they will weigh 10 to 15 pounds.

 SOURCE: Colorado Division of Wildlife