BASALT, Colo.—A Lazy Glen man ticketed with illegally shooting and killing a bear cub said the yearling had moved into the path of a warning shot he fired.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” Keith Peiffer said at a Pitkin County Court hearing Tuesday. “The thing moved at the wrong time.” He didn’t formally enter a plea at the hearing.
After the hearing, Peiffer said he was confronted by a bear in his kitchen May 19. Peiffer, who uses crutches to walk, said he shot the bear with BBs to get it out of his home.
After the bear ran up a tree, Peiffer said, he fired a rifle to scare it. He said the bear moved into the path of the bullet.
Wildlife officials have said Peiffer was ticketed because the 40- to 50-pound yearling didn’t pose a threat when it was shot.
If convicted, Peiffer faces a $1,000 fine, prosecutors said.
The case was continued until December.
