Colorado Parks and Wildlife has euthanized nearly 300 black bears this year, more than three times those euthanized in 2025, as bear sightings and conflicts spike across the state.
The state wildlife agency announced Thursday that it had killed 294 bears and relocated 98 others from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31. That’s up from 83 euthanizations and 33 relocations during the same period last year.
CPW euthanizes or relocates bears that have been hit by vehicles, attacked humans, entered homes or are suffering from poor health, the agency said. In August, the agency euthanized a bear that attacked and injured a fisherman on a Jefferson County trail.
Bear sightings and conflicts have increased dramatically this year as drought drives bears closer to humans in search of food. CPW has received 8,672 reports of bear sightings and incidents as of Aug. 31. Thatap up from 3,680 reports in the same period in 2025, and more than three times the five-year average, CPW said.
CPW expects bear encounters to increase. Nearly half of the bear incidents in 2025 occurred in August, September and October, when bears are in hyperphagia, a natural phase in which they spend most of the day searching for food to build up fat reserves for the winter.
This year, bears have been spotted in 41 of Colorado’s 64 counties, according to .
