A 300-pound bear was no match for several bags of garbage in Durango over the weekend. The impacted trash blocked the bear’s intestines, forcing state wildlife officers to euthanize the animal, officials said.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife Manager Luke Clancy spotted the bloated bear behind a Durango home on Delwood Avenue on Saturday, according to a news release from the agency. The bear was moaning and barely able to move, state wildlife officials said.
Three wildlife officers darted the bear to assess it and ultimately decided to euthanize the animal, according to the release.
When officers performed a necropsy, an autopsy for animals, they discovered the bear’s stomach and upper intestine were completely blocked with trash, state wildlife officials said in the release. The trash included entire garbage bags and cleaning wipes.
“This is the sad reality of bears eating trash,” Clancy said. “Itap a pretty horrible way to die for a wild bear that we hadn’t seen involved in any conflict or nuisance behavior in all these years.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials last spotted this bear in 2012, when it was caught during a , Clancy said. He estimated the bear was 18 years old.
The plastic trash was so compacted in the bear’s upper intestine that the animal would no longer have been able to digest food and would have slowly starved to death, District Wildlife Manager Stephanie Taylor said in the release.
State wildlife officials believe this bear had broken into several nearby homes earlier this summer, according to the release. The bear matched the size and coloration of the bear captured on video by homeowners.
“We are in the midst of a uniquely bad bear year that will likely only get worse before it gets better,” Clancy said. “If I can pass anything along to our community, it would first and foremost be to stay safe, and second, to keep bears safe. Securing trash and other attractants assures both.”
Residents should never feed or approach bears, should secure all food and garbage, should remove bird feeders when bears are active and should clean and store grills after use, state wildlife officials said.
