The woman told CPW officers she awoke around 4:30 a.m. to find the adult bear in the kitchen on the second floor of her Estes Park home on the west side of town.

After the incident, the bear left the home through the first-floor window, after which the woman called 911 and Larimer County Sheriff’s deputies responded. No bear was found at the scene. The woman then sought medical treatment for her abdominal injuries.

CPW has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to assist in locating and trapping the bear.

“We have not located the bear involved yet,” said Kara Van Hoose, public information officer for CPW, on Friday afternoon. “In accordance with CPW policy, bears responsible for attacks on humans represent a public safety threat due to dangerous behavior. They are lethally removed.”

The incident comes as CPW has reported unusually heavy bear activity in Estes Park. Multiple bears have broken into vehicles and occupied homes in the area over the past several days.

In addition, several bear attacks have occurred across the state in recent weeks, including on a fisherman near the South Platte River, a man sleeping in a park in Aspen, a woman in her home in Steamboat Springs, a man outside his apartment in Eagle-Vail, and a hiker in Snowmass.

CPW said that it has received over 6,000 bear reports this year, nearly double the number from a year ago. Residents are encouraged to report bear activity and conflicts to CPW at 303-291-7227 during normal business hours. After hours, residents should call their local sheriff’s office, or the Colorado State Patrol by dialing CSP (277).

If under immediate threat, call 911, officials said.

“As we continue to navigate this extraordinary bear year, please continue to be vigilant in removing food and trash that may attract bears to your property,” CPW Area Wildlife Manager Jason Duetsch said in the release. “Wildlife officers are working tirelessly to respond to an unprecedented number of bear reports, and we are counting on the community to help mitigate conflict.”

CPW said the unusually high number of bear conflicts are occurring largely because drought has reduced natural food sources.

Bears also are entering hyperphagia, a period before denning when they eat heavily to build up energy reserves. CPW said bears can seek as many as 20,000 calories a day during this period, increasing the likelihood they will take risks to find food in neighborhoods and other populated areas.

CPW recommends the following strategies to stay bear safe, according to a release:

• Stay alert and stay together — Pay attention to your surroundings and stay together. Walk, hike, jog, or cycle with others when possible. Keep kids within sight and close by. Leave earbuds at home and make noise periodically so bears can avoid you.

• Leave no trash or food scraps — Double-bag your food when hiking and pack out all food and trash. Don’t burn food scraps or trash in your fire ring or grill. Leaving scraps, wrappers, or even “harmless” items like apple cores teaches bears to associate trails and campsites with food.

• Keep dogs leashed — Letting dogs chase or bark at bears is asking for trouble; don’t force a bear to defend itself. Keep your dogs leashed at all times or leave them at home.

• Camp safely — Set up camp away from dense cover and natural food sources, and cook as far from your tent as possible. Do not store food, trash, clothes worn when cooking, or toiletries in your tent. Store in approved bear-resistant containers or out of sight in a locked vehicle or suspended at least 10 feet above the ground and 10 feet from any part of the tree. (Local regulations vary).

• Know what to do if you see a black bear — If you see a bear before it notices you, don’t approach. Stand still, enjoy, then quietly move away. If a bear sees you, back away slowly. Never run; running may trigger a chase response. If a bear approaches, hold your ground, wave your arms and yell “Hey Bear” until it leaves. Stay with your group. If it keeps approaching, use bear spray. If a black bear makes contact with you, do not play dead; fight back aggressively.

• Carry bear spray  and know how to use it – Bear spray is proven to be the easiest and most effective way to deter a bear that threatens you. It doesn’t work like bug repellent, so never spray your tent, campsite or belongings.

Bears are common in Colorado’s high country and the Front Range foothills, but their recent and more frequent appearances in places like Greenwood Village, Littleton and Arvada have led to an unusual start to the 2026-27 school year.

and have each put multiple schools on what is called secure status or perimeter — meaning no one can leave the building — because of nearby bears since classes resumed last week.

“It is highly unusual that we have this many bear sightings. Period,” said Cherry Creek spokeswoman Abbe Smith. “It’s made for an interesting start to the school year.”

The furry beasts are making their way into urban areas in search of food as widespread drought has depleted the berries, acorns and plants they typically feed on at higher elevations.

“We typically don’t expect to see them as far as the metro area and they’re particularly active this year,” said Cassandre Venumiere-Lefebvre, a wildlife biologist at . “They’re particularly desperate because of the drought.”

On Aug. 17, the first day of classes, Cherry Creek Schools placed at least four schools — Campus Middle School, Belleview Elementary, High Plains Elementary and Cottownwood Creek Elementary — on secure status after a bear was spotted at Tommy Davis Park in Greenwood Village.

Then, on Tuesday, Greenwood Elementary kept students inside for recess throughout the day after a bear was reported within two blocks of campus, according to letters Cherry Creek Schools sent to families.

The school system has experienced bear sightings before, but what’s different this year is that the animals are venturing into Centennial and Greenwood Village, Smith said.

“That is not normal,” she said.

The district notifies parents when there is a bear sighting in case it impacts how children arrive and leave school, such as if a student who normally walks home after class needs to be picked up by a parent, she said.

In Jeffco Public Schools, a bear was spotted a block from Sierra Elementary School in Arvada on Friday. A bear also reportedly roamed a neighborhood near Governor’s Ranch Elementary in Littleton, spurring school officials to send a letter to families Tuesday warning them about the potential of a furry visitor.

“They’re not a mountain school and that was something they probably didn’t anticipate seeing,” said district spokeswoman Devra Ashby.

Bears are showing up in denser, more urban areas as they struggle to find food in their natural environment. This time of year, bears also go into a “feeding frenzy” as they prepare to go into hibernation in October or November, Venumiere-Lefebvre said.

Statewide, Coloradans have had almost double the number of bear encounters compared to last year.

Earlier this month, a bear wandered onto school grounds in Aspen, forcing students inside from lunch and recess, according to an alert sent out by the .

The has also had several bear sightings near its campuses, including near Casey Middle School in Boulder on Wednesday, said spokesman Randy Barber.

Bears are not unusual visitors in Boulder, but when the animals start venturing farther east, such as into Broomfield or Lafayette, then it’s normally a sign they are extra hungry, Barber said. 

A bear was spotted near Heatherwood Elementary in Boulder’s Gunbarrel neighborhood last week, which is farther east in the district, Barber said.

“We’re definitely seeing bears,” he said.

School just started in Denver this week and, so far, no schools in the city have had to secure their perimeter because of wandering wildlife, said Denver Public Schools spokesman Scott Pribble.

But on Sunday, a roughly 18-month-old bear hung out in a tree at Denver’s Platt Park, near

Bear encounters have happened elsewhere this month, including when one attacked and injured a fisherman in Jefferson County last week.

A bruin wandered onto Colorado State University’s campus in Fort Collins, and another bear attacked a man outside a laundry room in EagleVail. A bear also entered a home in Mount Crested Butte and sparked a fire. Another bear bit a man sleeping in an Aspen park. And yet another bruin stole M&Ms from a hotel in Breckenridge.

The wolves’ territory changed little from last month and stretched generally from Gunnison to Vail and Meeker, according to .

Wolf pups born this spring have started traveling short distances with other pack members, CPW officials said. The pups are now about four months old.

The agency’s biologists are monitoring four reproducing packs and attempting to ascertain how many pups each pack added. An average wolf litter contains four to six pups.

After 2025 saw a flurry of zebra mussel detections in the Colorado River system, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s weekly sampling this summer has led to zero new discoveries of the invasive species.

This does not mean, however, that zebra mussels — notorious for their prolific reproduction and destruction of ecosystems and infrastructure — are gone from the basin or that the battle to curb their spread is over.

When zebra mussels establish a presence in a body of water, they multiply quickly. A single zebra mussel can produce up to 30,000 veligers — their microscopic, free-floating larvae — in one spawning event and up to one million in a year. As they root and attach to hard surfaces — like docks, rocks and pipes — and their density increases, they can cause significant damage and clogging to water infrastructure.

The species was initially detected in Colorado in 2022 and in the Colorado River in 2024. Increased sampling and inspections in 2025 led to numerous detections across the Western Slope.

Read more at .

Originally created on Aug. 25, 1916, the National Park Service’s purpose is to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

Colorado is home to four national parks — Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison — and that are overseen by the National Park Service. All of those will be accessible for free this week. (If you want to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, however, you still need a timed reservation.)

The National Park Service’s birthday celebration is part of a bigger , which includes themed days through Sunday, such as Watch Wildlife Wednesday and Freedom Friday.

Can’t make it this week? Entry to these sites will also be free on Sept. 17 in honor of Constitution Day, Oct. 27 in honor of Theodore Roosevelt����ap birthday, and Nov. 11 for Veteran’s Day.

In July, researchers with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory’s Marmot Project announced their plans to host a competition similar to Fat Bear Week, but featuring the state’s chonkiest rodent, the yellow-bellied marmot. They also unveiled an OnlyMarms page, hosted on the adult site OnlyFans as a tongue-in-cheek effort to raise money to fund their research amid federal grant cuts.

Colorado’s chonkiest critters are getting their own OnlyFans account

The projects immediately went viral, due in no small part to how adorable the animals are. OnlyMarms, which accepts tips in exchange for G-rated footage of the rodents in the wild, has since raised $6,700 from supporters, said Katie Adler, a Ph.D candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles and one of the Marmot Project researchers.

“I think people love to have something to root for, and with the current state of long-term funding, people have really rallied behind us,” she said by email. “People also just love cute, fat animals, and marmots really take the cake with that!”

Hopefully marmot mania endures because the time has come to vote on "the madness," a term that refers to a group of marmots. ()

Fat Marmot Week kicks off Monday with its first round of bracket-style competition, followed by additional rounds on Wednesday and Friday. The winner will be announced Saturday. Fans can head to to cast their votes; no registration required.

The competition starts with eight contenders, but only one will be crowned the people’s choice and Fat Marmot Week champion. Researchers will also unveil which marmot gained the most mass during its summer of grazing on grasses and wildflowers.

Meet the marms below. And feel free to raise a toast with Denver Beer Co.'s limited release . The brewery will donate $1 from every pint and crowler sold to the Marmot Project.

Stonehenge

Researchers call Stonehenge “big mama and queen of the Bench colony matriline." She has no patience for bikers and isn’t afraid to show it. She once reportedly yelled at some bikers 3,000 times in one hour. (Can you hear the high-pitched whistle?) Though Stonehenge reproduced this year, she unfortunately lost her litter to a hungry badger. “Never phased, she’s been focusing on self-care since then and is gaining mass nicely!” the competition website says.

Dawn

Dawn is a very special boy who enjoys the taste of rocks, researchers say -- and he's a busy boy at that. He is a father to many of the litters over the past five years and watches carefully over his pups while they play. Every year, his first order of business is to travel across his territory and check in on his ladies.

Dan’s Hat

Dan’s Hat is known as the cool aunt who’s part of Stonehenge’s matriline. Or at least she was until a badger ate all of her nieces and nephews. Matrilines form when adult females let their daughters stay in the social group instead of dispersing, according to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.

Open Kite

Open Kite is the “girl boss who runs the RMBL townsite,” says the website. With no male to mate with, she was able to allocate all of her energy to self-maintenance. Researchers say they are proud of her mass gain, but that she’s declined to weigh in for the contest this year. She can still win the people’s vote, though.

Citroen

Citroen is a new addition to the marmot colony in Gothic, first spotted in late May of this year. As Open Kite’s new man, Citroen has taken his role as stepdad to last year's pups very seriously. Snaps for that dad bod!

1

One is one proud mama and extremely watchful of her babies. When not on the lookout, 1 enjoys landscaping and decorating her burrow which she shares with another mother, 2, according to her bio.

Dandelion

A shy queen and young mother of six pups, Dandelion can often be found soaking up some sun on her favorite rock. Researchers say she’s kind enough to share her burrow with her sister, Paper Plane, but knows boundaries. Sometimes she’ll kick out family when she needs more space.

G

G -- full name Goblin -- is known as a loud and proud marmot who is unafraid to fight, literally, for his ladies. He has a need for speed and no time for walking. “He runs from burrow to burrow at his colony, but that doesn’t seem to stop him from packing on the pounds,” the website says.

The attack happened around 8 p.m. on the when the man, who is in his 60s, was walking back to the parking lot after fishing near the confluence of the Platte rivers, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said in a news release.

The man was not carrying any fish when the bear, a “subadult” sow, knocked him to the ground and bit his legs. The attack continued for several minutes until the man’s friends were able to scare the bear away.

He was taken to the hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening, CPW spokesperson Kara Van Hoose said. The angler was still hospitalized as of Saturday morning.

State wildlife officers started searching for the bear alongside a team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s , which also brought a dog team to track the bear’s scent.

Wildlife officials found and euthanized the bear early Saturday morning. The bear did not show signs of nursing and there were no cubs in the area, CPW said. State wildlife veterinarians will perform a necropsy on the animal.

This is the sixth bear attack so far in 2026, which is double the number of bear attacks in 2025, according to the agency.

Wildlife officials have reported nearly double the number of bear sightings and conflicts in Colorado so far this year as the animals roam closer to population areas in search of food during their “hyperphagia” phase, when bears eat up to 20,000 calories per day to prepare for hibernation.

“Historic drought has caused bear’s natural food sources to become scarce,” CPW said in a statement. “As food is harder to find, bears may act bolder to find calories, and trash should be secured and removed to discourage conflict between humans and bears.”

include recreating in groups, not leaving any trash or food scraps out, keeping dogs on leash so they can’t chase after bears, practicing bear-safe camping and carrying bear spray.

Anyone who sees a black bear should move away quietly. If spotted by a bear, people should slowly back away and not run, which could trigger a chase response. If the bear continues approaching, people should wave their arms and yell until it leaves and use bear spray if it continues to approach.

“If a black bear makes contact with you, do NOT play dead; fight back aggressively,” state officials said.

The fish in Sandpiper Pond, on the northeast side of the park, likely died from a lack of oxygen in the water, according to Nick Julian, a park administrator.

The pond is already pretty shallow, he said, and this year, low water levels and heat have made fish kills like this one more likely. Fish kills have happened before under similar conditions, especially in the park’s shallower ponds, he added.

Rangers cleaned up about a quarter of the fish, and birds feasted on the rest, according to a .

Park officials have decided they won’t stock ponds on the north side of the park this fall. Fish will instead be put in the park’s more full, healthy waters — like the Coot and Pintail ponds and Blue Heron Reservoir.

Fish kills can happen every summer, but drought conditions make them more likely. In July, channel after they died in a privately owned lake upstream.

The attack happened late Monday afternoon in the unincorporated community west of Vail in Eagle County when the man came across the bear and it swiped his arm. The man also tripped and injured his foot trying to escape, officials said.

A family member took the man to a medical facility, where he was treated and released, according to Parks and Wildlife. State wildlife officers stayed in the area overnight Monday to capture the sow and her cubs but believe a larger male bear kept the mom and cubs away from the area. Parks and Wildlife set a bear trap in the neighborhood.

State officials had received recent reports of a sow and cubs foraging in dumpsters in the neighborhood, an agency leader said.

Parks and Wildlife has received almost double the number of reports of bear sightings and conflicts so far this year, with severe drought limiting natural food sources and pushing more bears into communities as they try to load up on calories for winter hibernation.

In the last week alone, Coloradans have reported a bear wandering the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins, poking around a backyard in Centennial and strolling into a Breckenridge hotel lobby to munch on some chocolate.

To , Parks and Wildlife officials say residents should secure food, recycling and garbage; remove bird feeders when bears are active; clean and store grills; never leave pet food outside; and never feed or approach bears.

CSU officials first but were unable to find the animal until Tuesday morning, when someone saw it near Eddy Hall, an academic building, at 8:40 a.m.

The bear was safely secured and was in the process of being removed from campus by 10:40 a.m., CSU officials said.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has received almost double the number of bear sightings and conflicts in the first eight months of 2026 compared to the same period last year — 6,129 as of Aug. 13, compared to 3,115 in 2025.

Colorado bear encounters have nearly doubled over 2025

State officials say bears are wandering farther into residential areas this year to search for food because widespread drought has resulted in fewer natural food sources like berries, acorns and plants.

Colorado is home to an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 black bears, and CPW's include never feeding or approaching bears; securing food, garbage and recycling; removing bird feeders when bears are active; never leaving pet food outside; cleaning and storing grills; and alerting neighbors to bear activity.