A history of bear attacks in Colorado: Honeymooners, bear feeding, and a brazen trailer attack

Tragedy struck last week in a small town near Durango, Colorado when a 39-year-old woman was killed and eaten by a bear while walking her dogs. While bear attacks are quite uncommon, and killings even more rare, they're not unheard of in the Centennial State.

As Colorado's population continues to grow, more people are living in the state's urban-wildland interface – today it's around 2.9 million, up from 2 million five years ago. With this push of civilization into more natural terrain, interactions with wildlife are likely to occur at increasing rates. This makes it important to study past human-animal interactions in order to approach this development responsibly.

When it comes to black bears, Colorado has a booming population of around 20,000. With such high numbers, it's not surprising that 4,943 encounters were reported in 2020 – a third of which were trash-related. These encounters led to 120 bears being euthanized, up from 92 in 2019 and 63 in 2018. Amid those 4,943 encounters a small number of humans were attacked, but no attacks were fatal.

Over the last century, records indicate that there have been just five fatal bear attacks in Colorado, one of which involved two captive grizzlies at Denver Zoo.

Of the four fatal attacks involving wild bears, the incident preceding last week's attack occurred in the mountain town of Ouray more than ten years ago.

In 2009, a 74-year-old female was killed after intentionally attracting bears to her home. She had been feeding bears for at least a decade prior to when the attack occurred, having built a metal fence around her porch as a makeshift safety precaution. Images of the fence can be found online, showing thin wire being used to create a grid-like barrier, which she would feed the animals through. Eventually, a bear that had been attracted to the area pushed through the fence and mauled her to death. The incident resulted in two bears being killed by authorities in response.

Prior to that, no one had been killed by a bear in Colorado since 1993. While contributing factors in the 2009 death are quite obvious – never bait wild animals to a living space, especially large predators – the 1993 killing was less preventable.

In 1993, a 24-year-old logger was working and living on Fremont County's Waugh Mountain when he was attacked and killed by a black bear. In this case, the bear broke into the logger's small trailer, first attacking him inside of this living space. At some point, the victim shot the bear with a bullet that grazed the animals ribcage, resulting in injury, not death. The bear then returned multiple times to feed on the body.

The level of brazenness and aggression seen in this case from the bear is relatively uncommon. That being said, unsecured doors and windows aren't much of a match for a powerful bear set on entering a space. It's likely that smells from the trailer – trash or food – attracted the bear to the spot. Remember, bears have an extremely powerful olfactory system, with food and trash often being key drivers in human-bear interactions. The bear involved was later killed.

The only other fatal bear attack to occur in Colorado involving a wild animal happened in 1971. In this case, a black bear attacked a honeymooning couple while they were camping in a tent near Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park. The bear entered their tent, injuring the wife and killing the 31-year-old husband after dragging him away from their campsite. The bear was later killed.

During the one fatal incident involving captive bears, a 76-year-old employee of the Denver Zoo was spraying down two grizzlies on a hot July day in 1934. The bears attacked the man and killed him. They were later shot and killed. At this point, grizzlies were still native in Colorado until another bear attack led to the last one being killed in 1979.

While only five people have been killed by bears in Colorado over the last hundred years, a number of non-fatal, but notable attacks have occurred.

For starters, the aforementioned grizzly attack that resulted in the eradication of this species from the state took place in 1979, when Ed Wiseman was hunting in a remote part of the San Juan Wilderness. Wiseman was attacked and mauled by an older sow, ultimately using handheld arrows to kill the bear in self-defense. Wiseman somehow survived after spending a night in the backcountry with exposed bone and tendons while awaiting a sunrise helicopter rescue. In this case, Wiseman didn't really do anything wrong that led to the attack – he was in a remote spot and encountered wildlife by surprise. The bear was old and weaker, likely desperate for food.

However, many bear attacks can be avoided by taking extra precautions.

In 2019, a mother bear and her cub broke into a Pine residence at night through a screen door. The couple inside fought them off with fists and a baseball bat. Colorado Parks and Wildlife described a fist fight between the mother bear and a 71-year-old resident. Neither person was seriously injured but the mother bear was tracked and euthanized. In this case, it's most likely that the bears entered the home in search of food, with the screen door being a vulnerable access point.

In 2020, multiple attacks over a week-long stretch prompted a warning from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. One encounter involved a man that was attacked when a bear entered his home in Aspen and another attack occurred in downtown Manitou Springs – a small town that is adjacent to the busy streets of Colorado Springs, but tucked into the Pikes Peak foothills.

Other bear attacks that have occurred in recent years have involved bears stumbling into tents and campsites. In one case, a large bear trampled a tent with a family of four and two dogs inside in 2018. No one sustained serious injuries, though the adult male man was transported to the hospital. In this case, food was believed to be the attractant.

Don't let these examples fool you – bear attacks remain uncommon. That being said, trends seen in these attacks reveal key actions that humans in bear territory can take to prevent falling victim in a similar incident.

Most bear attacks seem to involved two key commonalities – unsecured entrance points and food attractants. Because of this, it is strongly recommended that those in Colorado's urban-wildland interface are mindful of what doors and windows might make living spaces more accessible for wildlife – those that are commonly unlocked, ajar, or less sturdy. In addition to that, several of these examples show the importance of securing trash and food both around a full-time residence and while at the campsite.

Utilize bear canisters while in the backcountry and keep trash around the home in bear-resistant containers.

Not only can following responsible practices help improve the safety of humans, but also the safety of bears – typically euthanized by policy when dangerous interactions occur. As Coloradans continue to explore the state at high rates and as population centers continue to sprawl into more rugged terrain, following these simple practices will continue to become more crucial for ensuring a safer existence for humans and wildlife, alike.