BEING \u2018BEAR WISE\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\nColorado Parks and Wildlife is urging residents to report bear sightings and conflicts as wildlife officials deal with an unusually high level of bear activity and conflicts across the state.<\/p>\n
Tim Kroening, the area wildlife manager based in Colorado Springs, said reporting bear activity early can help wildlife officials prevent potentially dangerous situations from escalating.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s critical that anybody reports an incident if you have one with a bear,\u201d Kroening said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only important for the bears to keep them safe and really start early on with notifying us if you have a bear around in your neighborhood, but as things, if things escalate.. it\u2019s really important for the safety of not only your family, but also your neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kroening said the goal is to keep bears wild and prevent them from becoming comfortable around people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want the bears to get habituated to people,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s when dangerous situations can end up happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
SOME PEOPLE FEAR REPORTING BEAR SIGHTINGS<\/b><\/p>\n
Some residents have expressed concern that reporting a bear could result in the animal being euthanized. Kroening said failing to report a conflict is irresponsible, while emphasizing that euthanasia is not an automatic response. He said wildlife officials have a responsibility to protect both people and wildlife, and sometimes that means removing or euthanizing an animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes we do end up having to euthanize or remove animals, but we do that for the safety of everybody, and it\u2019s not a decision that we make lightly,\u201d Kroening said. \u201cA lot of factors go into those decisions. We have policies around those decisions, but they\u2019re made for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kroening said residents should report more than just obvious conflicts. That includes bears getting into trash, pet food or other food sources, as well as bears simply passing through neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really are looking for anything and everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s any sort of conflict or interactions with people, if they\u2019re getting into any food sources that could be trash, that could be pet food, anything along those lines, for sure we\u2019ve got to know about it,\u201d Kroening said.<\/p>\n
Even sightings without an obvious conflict can help CPW identify patterns, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe collect all of that data. It goes into a map and a database for us so that we can actually see, our officers are looking at their areas of responsibility and are seeing patterns that may be developing,\u201d Kroening explained.<\/p>\n
NEARLY 300 BEARS HAVE HAD TO BE EUTHANIZED THIS YEAR<\/b><\/p>\n
Colorado has experienced a high number of bear conflicts this year amid difficult environmental conditions, including drought, late freezes and wildfire. Kroening estimated Colorado\u2019s bear population at between 17,000 and 20,000 animals. While nearly 300 bears have been euthanized this year, he said that represents less than 2% of the statewide population.<\/p>\n
Kroening said bears still have access to natural food sources, including berries, acorns and insects, but the availability of food has been affected by this year\u2019s conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur bears are doing well in Colorado, and they will definitely rebound well next year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
DO YOUR PART<\/b><\/p>\n
As bears prepare for hibernation, Kroening urged residents in bear country to take extra precautions around homes. That includes securing trash and removing other potential food sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s really no reason to have bird feeders out this time of year,\u201d he said, recommending residents wait until bears have started hibernating before putting them back out.<\/p>\n
Kroening also urged people not to simply watch a bear in their yard.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake loud noises. Say, hey bear, hey bear, get out of here, clap your hands, clap some pots and pans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said residents can also use an air horn or a homemade rattle can, a pop can filled with gravel and sealed with duct tape, to help haze a bear from a safe distance.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Scripps News Group. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Scripps News Group) – A Colorado Springs couple is sharing a wild reminder to lock…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1052052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[4439,9577,17025,17026,116923,421342,421341,159,58224,67,132,68,837],"class_list":["post-1052051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-colorado-pueblo-news","tag-colorado-springs-news","tag-pueblo","tag-pueblo-colorado-news","tag-pueblo-news","tag-science","tag-southern-colorado","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117238585516421175","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1052051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}