A homeowner walked his back porch in Colorado — and heard a massive creature growling and huffing at him, officials said.
The encounter led to the discovery of a huge black bear that is apparently very fond of the spot, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Fat bear alert,” the agency said in the Sept. 20 post. “Check out this chonk of a black bear our wildlife officers moved Thursday (Sept. 19) from underneath a deck on the west side of Durango! He’s an absolute tank.”
Photos show the massive bear inside a bear cage.
“This old boar (male bear) had been spotted on the west side of Durango frequently this summer. Getting into trash and fruit trees, mostly,” the agency said. “But there was one deck he showed to be fond of. He hadn’t come to the deck in a few weeks, but he showed back up Thursday.”
Another photo shows the bear resting, likely sedated, beneath the deck.
“The homeowner went down the stairs to his back porch and heard the bear growl and huff at him. So, he called our CPW-Durango office,” the agency said. “It took two darts to get this bear to go down, and then the hard work began to pull the bear out from under the deck.”
A video shows two officers grunting as they tug on ropes fastened around the bear’s front paws — as it barely budges.
“There is no way,” one of them says as they pull back and then release the tension, laughing incredulously.
“Freaking glued to the ground,” the person filming seems to say as one of them groans again from the effort.
“His butt’s in a hole,” someone says, explaining why the two officers’ force doesn’t seem to be doing much.
“It took four or five CPW officers to get the bear out from under the deck and loaded on a stretcher that could be pulled to a trap,” the agency said. “Once loaded thanks to a winch, officers gave the bear a quick health exam, estimated age based on tooth condition, and issued a reversal drug.”
Photos show officers dragging the huge bear on the tarp.
“It didn’t take long for the bear to wake back up and continue to impress our staff with its sheer size,” the agency said. “An absolute unit.”
Wildlife officers took the bear on “a long ride in the trap far away from a Durango neighborhood and into a place with quality bear habitat that has TONS of available natural forage this year, such as acorns and chokeberries,” the agency said.
A video shows District Wildlife Manager Luke Clancy opening the hatch while holding a long gun toward the bear as it lumbers out of the trap. The massive mammal catches sight of him before lumbering away.
“Why did we move this bear? Because of several reported incidents related to conflict with this bear all summer and because under a deck is no place for a bear to continually set up shop,” the agency said. “This close to denning season, this bear needs to go find a better potential den site.”
The agency reminded residents that bears are in what is known as hyperphagia, when they bulk for winter hibernation and are “trying to consume as many as 20,000 calories a day.”
“It’s critical to remove attractants such as unsecured trash and fallen fruit from our neighborhoods to prevent luring bears into residential areas,” the agency said. “If you’re a Durango local, this might feel familiar to you. That’s because it was only two years ago we moved another MASSIVE bear from only a few blocks away from where this incident was. Different bear, same story. The west side of Durango grows em big.”
The town is about a 315-mile drive southwest from Colorado Springs.
Staff took guesses on the bear’s weight and reached a consensus of about 450 pounds, the agency said. But some people thought it weighed more than that.
“Now in better habitat with strong natural food availability, we are left to only wonder how much bigger it will get this fall,” the agency said. “But that’s an answer we hope to never know. Good luck!”
‘Loud huffing and moaning’ under Colorado family’s deck leads to discovery of a ‘giant’
Bear cub sniffs its way into school cafeteria, Colorado cops say. See the hungry cub
Furry beast won’t budge from spot under Colorado honeycomb vendor. See the predicament
Local News
Comments / 0