Wildlife officers shot and killed a bear Saturday after the animal bit a man who was sleeping near the Animas River in Durango.
The victim, who wasn’t identified, fled into a nearby building after the attack at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday.
He told Colorado Division of Wildlife officers the bear bit him through his blanket.
State wildlife and U.S. Department of Agriculture officers used dogs to track the animal, and found it about three blocks from the place the man was bitten.
A necropsy at Colorado State University found a package of hamburger and an ice cream container in the bear’s stomach.
“A bear that bites a person – or loses its fear of people may be a serious threat to public safety,” Patt Dorsey, area wildlife manager for the DOW in Durango said in a release. “In the interest of public safety, we chose to remove this animal as quickly as possible.”
