Mother bear shot in Willits neighborhood; Colorado Parks and Wildlife continues to investigate

A mother bear was shot and killed in a Willits neighborhood last Saturday.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife Manager Peter Boyatt confirmed the incident during a Tuesday Basalt Town Council meeting.

Boyatt said that the shooting is still an open investigation, so he could not share many details. He did confirm Colorado Parks and Wildlife found a sow that was shot dead, and they captured and safely relocated its two cubs.

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“It’s just sick,” Willits resident Tom Moore said after he heard the news. “All of us in the community are heartsick that something like this could happen.”

Moore said the sow and her two cubs were summer staples to the area neighborhoods, which includes Sopris Circle in Willits, where she was shot. Residents created a text chain to exchange photos of the trio.

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Sometimes, the bears would get into neighborhood trash cans. But this is not unusual, and a loud noise would scare them away, Moore said.

During one instance the Thursday before the mother was killed, Moore recalls a garbage pickup crew scaring the bears away from his neighbor’s trash with a honk of their truck horn and a flash of their lights. The mother and her cubs scurried away, the two cubs up a tree and the mother standing guard at the base. 

“They were great climbers, they zoomed up the tree,” Moore said.

Moore cannot recall a time when a bear has been shot before. But during Tuesday’s Basalt Town Council meeting, Boyatt said bear conflicts are at a five-year high in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Moore left three messages with Colorado Parks and Wildlife over the past two days, but he has not been able to speak with anyone. The Aspen Times was also unable to reach Colorado Parks and Wildlife for this story.

Basalt Police Chief Greg Knott confirmed over the phone that Colorado Parks and Wildlife was investigating the incident, since it involved a wild animal.

Basalt Town Council member Angela Anderson mentioned during Boyatt’s Tuesday presentation the killing of the mother. She lives on Sopris Circle and asked Boyatt what Colorado Parks and Wildlife is doing to deter this type of reaction from humans, what happened to the two cubs, and what is the penalty for killing a bear in this situation.

Boyatt went on to say that outside of town limits, Colorado Parks and Wildlife gives residents non-lethal buckshot to scare bears away. Sopris Circle, however, is not outside of town limits. And Boyatt emphasized: Do not use buckshot or shoot bears within city limits.

Inside town limits, Boyatt encourages “hazing” bears. The best way to do this without harming them is with air horns, banging pots and pans, and throwing rocks and tennis balls. In entrances to the home, he said ammonia soaked rags will also keep them away.

Electric bear mats on porches and decks and electric fencing is another idea, and nail boards are on the cheaper side and work well on top of dumpsters.

Boyatt said that it is vital to make sure bears do not become comfortable around people or homes. And the biggest problems residents face in bear conflicts are unlocked doors and windows. More often in the summer, windows are left open to cool homes down, but this is an invitation for a bear to come in and wreak havoc on a home. Another problem is unsecured trash, but the Basalt Police Department has worked with residents to ensure trash is secure and bears stay away.

The reason the valley, as well as Eagle County and the entire state of Colorado, is seeing an uptick in bear conflicts is because it is a poor natural food year. There are not a lot of serviceberries and other food that bears typically eat, so they move deeper into towns to pick through trash. Poor food years happen every so often for various reasons. 

Last year, the valley experienced a “great” spring, Boyatt said. There was a lot of moisture with a lot of natural food and very few bear encounters in Basalt.

“But just because we had a lax year the year before doesn’t mean we need to continue that into a bad failure in food year,” he said.

Boyatt, who just dealt with a bear call before attending the meeting, said there may be a recent uptick because crab apple trees are producing more, and that is what bears are going after.

Several sows are also having twins, triplets, and sometimes quadruplets. Since food is more scarce this year, mothers may be kicking their cubs free earlier than what is considered normal, which forces cubs to find food on their own, he said.

Knight had a cub encroaching on his own that Colorado Parks and Wildlife caught and took to a rehabilitation center. Orphaned cubs that are weak and malnourished may also be caught if they are getting into trouble in town, hanging out for longer than a week, and become spotted more and more.

At the rehabilitation centers, they are fed and fattened up for the winter, and in late winter and early spring when it is time for them to be denned up, then artificial dens are dropped around the valley, and the cubs are placed inside.

“That’s a great program to help mitigate, I think, some of these potential conflicts without having to take lethal action for the bears,” Knight said.

Hyperphagia, or the period before bears hibernate, when they eat almost nonstop everyday, is about to begin, so bears are also seeking out more and more food in different places.

“So, we’re going to keep seeing increased bear activity until we get enough snow to force bears into hibernation,” Boyatt said.

Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.