A female bear whose wanderings put two Arvada schools on lockout early Thursday was euthanized after being captured by wildlife officials.
Jennifer Churchill, spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said the bear was about 150 pounds and 15 years old.
The decision was made to euthanize after the bear was evaluated and found to be older than originally thought. Wildlife officials determined the bear likely would be hit by a car or starve to death if she was taken away and released.
Arvada police say the bear initially was spotted in the area of Ralston Valley High School and Meiklejohn Elementary School, prompting the lockouts.
She “jumped the fence and was in our yard,” said Kristin Fox, who lives between the two schools and saw the bear before its gender was known.
Fox said she received an emergency notification call about the bear.
The bear “was huge,” she added. “He did not have a care in the world. He was looking around, hopping over the fence. It didn’t seem to faze him that he was in a neighborhood and not up in the mountains.”
Images from a television news helicopter showed the bear swimming in an irrigation canal away from authorities who were pursuing her.
The bear was tranquilized and captured.
In Boulder, officials temporarily locked down an elementary school Thursday after a bear was spotted on a tree nearby. Wildlife officials said the bear was allowed to leave on its own.
Last week in the area of West 64th Avenue and Indiana Street, prompting police warnings.
Black bears along the Front Range this summer are getting into their usual mischief , including an overnight foray into the heart of Denver.
“Since the second week of July, things went crazy,” Churchill said earlier this week.
And there’s a simple explanation for the migration. The bears, who typically eat about 20,000 calories a day during the summer, are hungry.
A “localized food failure” in northeastern Colorado has bears “out looking hard for food,” Churchill said.
She added: “Anywhere west of Interstate 25 can be bear country.”
The Daily Camera contributed to this report.
