CRESTONE — Some angry southern Colorado residents are accusing state wildlife officials of killing the wrong bear after a goat was mauled. The bear they got was a sow, leaving its cubs orphaned.
Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife officers killed the bear Sunday near Crestone, 125 miles southwest of Denver.
Wildlife officials say they got the right bear.
“And how we know that is we had a description from the property owner where the goat was killed that he saw the bear with the cubs,” agency spokesman Joe Lewandowski told 9News.
Heather Dalessio, the goat’s owner, disputed that, saying she and her husband told a wildlife officer the culprit bear didn’t have cubs.
Elaine Johnson said the bear was killed at the base of a tree on her property while the bear’s cubs were in the tree.
“She got to the bottom of the tree and was killed. The babies waited in the top. The next morning they were still there. And when they came down, they just laid on her body,” Johnson said.
Parks and wildlife officers captured the cubs and took them to a wildlife center in Del Norte. Lewandowski said the bears will be released this winter.
Lewandowski said the bear was a nuisance, foraging for food and trying to break into houses in Crestone. But town code-enforcement officer Adam Kinney disagreed, saying, “I’ve never once received a complaint about the bear.”
