Colorado authorities killed two bears, a sow and her cub, after the sow attacked a woman in the town of New Castle on the Western Slope early Wednesday morning.

The attack happened around 2 a.m. in the Castle Valle Ranch neighborhood, according to a police department news release.

The attack happened when the woman saw that the lid to her hot tub was partially removed and she went outside to adjust it, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“While fixing the lid she noticed a bear coming out of a tree and charging at her,” a CPW news release said. “The bear, later determined to be the sow, swiped at the woman, hitting and severely lacerating her arm.”

The injured woman, who also suffered back lacerations, was able to get back inside her home and call 911 for help.

When local police arrived on scene they spotted four bears, a sow and three cubs, still nearby the home. Police notified the CPW and wildlife officials “instructed the police officer to shoot and kill the sow,” the CPW release said. Police tracked the sow to a tree near New Castle Middle School and shot the bear.

At about 3 a.m., state wildlife officials arrived on scene. “Based on information known about the attack on the victim at that time, CPW could not determine if the sow or one of the cubs had attacked the woman,” the release said.

A decision was made to euthanize the bears and one cub was euthanized, according to the CPW release. The two remaining cubs were in a tree along a busy road and several homes.

As the investigation continued, wildlife officials determined that the sow was the only bear involved in the attack. At that point, the CPW decided that the two surviving cubs would not be euthanized. The cubs were tranquilized, removed from the tree and taken to a CPW facility to be evaluated.

The bodies of the sow and dead cub are being sent to the CPW’s Wildlife Health Lab for necropsy.

The four bears had been sighted in the area prior to the attack, but they did not show any aggression towards humans or other behaviors that would have prompted a need to relocate the animals, the CPW release said.

The woman was taken to a local hospital to be treated for serious injuries, according to the CPW.

As of last week, CPW had put down 63 bears in Colorado in 2022. The estimated bear population in the state is between 17,000 to 20,000.