Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) authorities euthanized a mother bear and her four cubs Sunday after determining they posed a neighborhood threat and could not be rehabilitated or relocated successfully, an official confirmed Tuesday.
The five bears were put down after the sow led the cubs into a home in the Five Trees neighborhood at approximately 5 a.m. Saturday, according to Rachael Gonzales, a CPW spokeswoman. The bears entered the residence through a closed but unlocked window on the home’s ground level, she said.
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“It’s great they had the windows closed,” said Gonzales. “That’s what we’ve been preaching — close your doors on the ground level. But, having them locked is the next step; the same thing with doors. If you have doors and windows on the ground level or porch level, anything that is easy to get to should be closed and locked at all times.”
The bears didn’t show aggression toward the home’s occupants, but they damaged the window and the kitchen, she said.
Under Colorado’s two-strike policy, authorities will tag and relocate a black bear that has created a nuisance by entering a home or vehicle, for example. If the same bear is reported again as a nuisance, wildlife officers put it down.
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