Bear In Tree

Glenwood Springs- A Colorado bed and breakfast owner armed with just a length of rope helped save a black bear with a giant plastic container stuck on its head.

Jim Hawkins, of Glenwood Springs, got his lasso around the animal’s midsection on the first throw. He said Thursday that he and the bear “did a rodeo thing for a while” before the animal figured out that Hawkins was the reason it couldn’t run away.

That’s when the bear went after Hawkins, leaving him with scrapes and a wound that needed stitches. It then scrambled up a tree, remaining there until officials arrived.

Carbondale District Wildlife Officer John Groves told the Post Independent newspaper that officials tranquilized the bear and cut the container off its head.

It was released in the mountains and is expected to survive.

Aspen- A young bear killed after it got into a mountaintop restaurant in Colorado reportedly had been fed by customers on multiple occasions.

A worker shot and wounded the 70-pound animal Saturday after it broke in through a locked door and charged him at the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain, which was closed at the time. Wildlife officials later euthanized the yearling.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife area manager Perry Will told The Aspen Times that the employee said visitors on the deck gave food to the bear, including a father and son who fed it by hand. Will said he didn’t doubt those claims and said it explained the bear’s behavior.

He said the shooting in this case was justified but emphasized that deadly force should be a last resort.

 

Category: Uncategorized