A bear attacked and severely injured a shepherd in a backcountry camp about 23 miles northeast of Durango. Wildlife officials say the bear was tracked and killed.
The incident happened Tuesday morning near a camp in the Weminuche Wilderness above Lemon Reservoir, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a news release.
The 35-year-old victim, a shepherd with a grazing permit for the San Juan National Forest, suffered bite wounds to his head, wounds to his left hand and arm, severe lacerations to his left hip area and scratches on his back. He was taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango and then flown to Grand Junction for surgery.
“This is an unfortunate incident and we are thankful the victim was able to contact help to get emergency services deployed and that he was able to be extracted to receive necessary medical care,” said CPW Area Wildlife Manager Adrian Archuleta, in the release.
About 1 a.m. Tuesday, the shepherd was woken by a camp disturbance involving a black bear. He fired a .30-30 caliber rifle at the bear before it attacked him, wildlife officials said. Following the attack, the man crawled to his tent and contacted a cousin who summoned help.
Wildlife officials were contacted about 4 a.m. and were on scene about 8:30 a.m., the release said. A blood trail and the man’s rifle were found, and DNA samples were collected from the scene where two dead sheep, with wounds consistent to a bear attack, were located.
About 5 p.m. Tuesday, an agent from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) with a team of dogs helped wildlife officers track the bear. Hounds pursued the bear to the Florida River as CPW officers followed in steep and treacherous terrain keying in on GPS signals from the dogs’ collars. Just before 11 p.m., the APHIS agent shot and killed the bear.
“This is a difficult part of the job,” Archuleta said. “But when it comes to injuries to humans as a result of a predator attack, human health and safety is our top priority.”
The bear, an 8-year-old boar, weighed about 250 pounds. DNA samples collected at the attack scene were sent to the CPW Wildlife Health Lab in Fort Collins for testing to compare with the bear that was tracked and shot.
“Until we get results back from the lab regarding DNA testing, we can’t 100% confirm that this is the offending bear,” Archuleta said. “But based on the information we have at this point, we feel confident that it is the offending bear.”
Tuesday’s incident is the first reported bear attack in Colorado in 2023 and the first in La Plata County since April 2021, according to CPW.
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