DURANGO, Colo. — Wildlife officers shot and killed a bear they believe attacked and seriously injured a sheep herder in southwestern Colorado early Tuesday morning, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said.
CPW said the attack happened near a camp in the Weminuche Wilderness above Lemon Reservoir, about 23 miles northeast of Durango. The victim suffered bite wounds to his head, as well as wounds to his left hand and arm, severe cuts to his left hip area, and scratches on his back, CPW said.
The victim, a 35-year-old man, was working for a sheep grazing permit holder in the San Juan National Forest, CPW said. Around 1 a.m., he told CPW that he was woken up by a disturbance at the camp involving his sheep and a black bear. The victim told CPW he fired a .30-30 caliber rifle at the bear before the bear attacked him.
After the attack, the victim was able to crawl to his tent and contact his cousin. He was flown to a local hospital and then to Grand Junction for surgery, CPW said.
CPW was notified of the attack around 4 a.m. When wildlife officers arrived, they found a blood trail and the victim's rifle, CPW said. They also found two dead sheep that had wounds consistent with a bear attack.
CPW officers worked with an agent and a team of dogs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service to search for the bear. On Tuesday evening, the dogs caught the bear's scent and followed it to the Florida River. The APHIS agent shot and killed the bear just before 11 p.m., CPW said.
"Because the bear made contact with a human, it is classified under CPW policy as an attack and the agency’s policy is to euthanize the bear," CPW said in a news release.
CPW said the bear was estimated to be about 8 years old and 250 pounds. They said it had wounds in the chest area, but officers were unable to determine whether they were from gunshots fired by the victim. They also found sheep's wool in the bear's stomach.
“Until we get results back from the lab regarding DNA testing, we can’t 100% confirm that this is the offending bear,” a CPW wildlife manager said in the release. “But based on the information we have at this point, we feel confident that it is the offending bear.”
Before this one, the most recent bear attack in La Plata County was in 2021, when 39-year-old Laney Malavolta was killed while walking her dogs. That was the most recent fatal bear attack in Colorado.
CPW said this attack was the first reported bear attack in Colorado this year.
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