Wildlife officials said a Trinidad man shot and killed two black bear cubs that were eating his chickens outside his home Tuesday, and that a third cub has been captured and released into an area with “excellent crops of acorns and chokecherries.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the third bear weighed approximately 40 pounds and appeared healthy.
A sow with the cubs evaded capture and officials are asking neighbors to alert them if she returns.
“This is a highly unusual situation inside city limits. Property owners are within their legal rights to defend their livestock if their animals are being attacked by predators, such as bears or lions,” Mike Brown, CPW area wildlife manager for the region, said. “However, this individual was shooting a rifle inside city limits, and we deemed it an act that endangered human life and property of neighbors.”
The shooting comes just months after a Gypsum man shot and killed a bear that came face to face with his mother as she entered the family’s barn to get a bucket of paint. That killing was deemed justified because the bear, identified by red ear tags reading 935, was frequently spotted in Vail, had broken into at least one home and failed to leave the area after CPW officers hazed it.
“It traveled through miles and miles of appropriate habitat to seek refuge near Vail,” Matt Yamashita, the area wildlife manager, said. But when it returned and started “developing bad habits,” officials determined it was time for it to be euthanized.
But the homeowner beat them to it.
Bear conflicts have been on the rise in several regions this summer, with officials in Summit, Eagle and Grand counties instituting trash ordinances with mixed results.
But CPW will do everything in its power not to kill wildlife, agency spokesperson Bill Vogrin said. Bear cubs, he said, are routinely taken to rehab facilities where they stay until they are transferred to “artificial hibernation situations” in fall and released back into the wild come spring.
“And this time of year, as long as the bear is healthy and has reached a certain weight, we would prefer to release it immediately into the wild,” he added. “Studies show they do really well being released this time of year. Killing them is the last thing we want to do. And we didn’t kill these cubs, the homeowner did.”
CPW didn’t identify the Trinidad man, who was cited with a Class 2 misdemeanor for careless discharge of a firearm punishable by a fine of $100 to $1,000.
