VAIL — This has been a tough year for bears. It may be a tough one for bear-human encounters, too.
Last winter’s drought and a hot, dry summer have combined to limit bears’ natural food supplies. A lot of bears also are slipping into their ritual of gorging before going into their long winter’s naps in the late fall.
That means there have already been more bear sightings than usual along the valley floor this season. Wildlife officials have killed several bears this summer.
The bears’ hunger has brought them into down-valley areas where they aren’t usually spotted until later in the summer, if at all.
“This year’s shaping up to be like 2002,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Area manager Perry Will said. That year, another severe drought brought an unusual number of bears into neighborhoods.
This year, a female bear with at least one cub has been spotted in several neighborhoods in Gypsum, from Valley Road south of town to the Bureau of Land Management campground just west of town. That bear was spotted napping in a pasture near the town cemetery last week.
According to Sgt. George Dow of the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, the bear hasn’t been aggressive, and no conflicts have been reported. Still, it’s going to be tricky to keep the bear out of town. Since Gypsum rarely has bears in town, the town’s trash receptacles are all plastic, and few, if any, residents have bear-resistant trash containers.
Dow encouraged residents to do their best to keep their trash inside until trash day, while acknowledging that indoor trash could lead a bear to break into a home, potentially causing more serious problems.
