In a Centennial residential neighborhood, wildlife officials safely tranquilized a bear Friday that may have been the bane of Arapahoe County sheriff’s deputies and rangers the past three days, according to officials.
After the bear dismounted a tree and disappeared at around 7 a.m., sheriff’s deputies called for reinforcements to help them track down a sneaky bear, which has been dodging people while foraging for food scraps in heavily populated Centennial neighborhoods.
“He’s very elusive,” said Julie Brooks, spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. “We think he might be the same bear and again Thursday afternoon.”
The capture was confirmed in an 8:40 a.m. tweet by the sheriff’s office.
Littleton Public Schools had been notified as a precaution, Brooks said.
The latest black bear sighting came shortly after sunrise Friday. Several squad cars descended on the area of Franklin Way and Franklin Street, south of Arapahoe Road, in Littleton.
As deputies crept into the backyard of one home they saw the large adult bear in a tree. It quickly scrambled down the tree and disappeared into thick brush, Brooks said.
“We’re not going to go walking through that thick brush,” Brooks said.
Not out of fear, she said emphatically.
“We’re not afraid of bears,” she said.
There have been , in populated areas up and down the Front Range, that it’s possible different bears are tag-teaming Arapahoe deputies.
But it’s also very possible that the same cunning black bear is leading wildlife officials in circles. Deputies called rangers from Colorado Parks and Wildlife to help in the chase Friday morning.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell
