BOULDER — Wildlife officers Friday night trapped an elusive bear cub that has repeatedly escaped capture since its injured mother was euthanized earlier this month. And, because the several-months-old cub was so healthy and “robust,” the Colorado Division of Wildlife has released her back into the wild.
Division officers set a trap outside a home near Mount Sanitas in Boulder and found the cub in the trap Friday night, said division spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill. Because the young cub was still nursing when her mother was killed, wildlife officers initially intended to take the cub to be rehabilitated to make sure she would be able to care for herself on her own, Churchill said.
But when a veterinarian and an expert in rehabilitating bears looked at the cub Friday night, they were surprised to find that she was 75 pounds and “much healthier than we thought,” Churchill said.
“They both agreed that based on her size and behavior, she would do OK if we released her out of town and tried to let her go on her own,” Churchill said of the cub that was born sometime in the spring. “She was pretty big for being this year’s cub.”
Churchill said the cub was very uninterested in people.
“She was pretty feisty, and that’s great,” she said. “We want a bear who isn’t happy to be near people.”
Vanessa Miller, Daily Camera
