Officers kill bear suspected of mauling campers in Wilderness area

A bear suspected of injuring two campers at separate campsites this past Friday and Saturday morning was successfully tracked and killed at approximately 7 a.m. Sunday morning by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers, with the assistance of a specialist with the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program and employees of the U. S. Forest Service. Based the location, behavior and description of the black bear given by campers involved in the incidents, wildlife officers are confident that they tracked down the bear responsible for attacking two campers while they slept in their tents at the Maroon Bells-Snowmass wilderness area. The bear bit both victims, causing minor injuries to the leg of one camper at Crater Lake and substantial injuries to the leg of another camper in the nearby Minnehaha Gulch area. "We were very careful to make sure we got the right bear," said Colorado Parks and Wildlife Area Wildlife Manager Perry Will. Because the two incidents were in the same area and had similar characteristics, Will believes only one bear was involved in these attacks...more