A big male black bear that got stranded in the storm drains under Colorado Springs was coaxed out through a manhole in the sort of incident wildlife officials say is becoming common in the city.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) got a call from an alarmed resident on the city’s west side July 10, reporting bears lurking in the storm drains under a suburban street, agency spokesman Dean Miller told Cowboy State Daily.
It turned out to be just one bear that had entered the storm drain system through a tunnel outlet, though officials don’t know when or where. The bear might have ventured into the tunnels to escape the heat.
The bear must have started meandering through the subterranean network, squeezing through tunnels that allowed him to go only forward.
“He must have been too big to turn around and come back through the tunnels the way he came,” Dean said.
Unlike Wyoming, Colorado doesn’t have grizzlies. The last documented grizzly there was killed after attacking bowhunter Ed Wiseman in 1979. It does, however, have a robust population of black bears, estimated to be about 15,000 to 20,000.
And Colorado Springs’ west side, which butts up against mountains, is a high bear traffic area — and has been for quite some time, Miller said.
That’s resulted in frequent frantic calls about metro-area bears to CPW, particularly from newcomers.
“They’re not used to seeing bears, and they’ll be like, ‘Why is there a sudden increase of bear activity in our city?’” Miller said.
‘You Guys Take The Key’
CPW agents have plenty of experience handling incidents in Colorado Springs, but finding a bear in the storm drains was a new twist.
“We could see the bear down there through the grates, and we could hear it,” but the bear didn’t have an immediate way out, Miller said.
Luckily for the bear, there was an access manhole nearby, although it was locked. CPW called a municipal maintenance crew, asking for a key.
“The brought the key, gave it to us, said, ‘Here, you guys can use it,’ and then they backed away,” Miller said with a chuckle.
Once the manhole cover was opened, it didn’t take the bear long to figure out that was his way out, Miller said.
The bear skillfully climbed the ladder inside the storm drain and popped out of the manhole as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
Miller took video of the incident, noting that it was right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
“The chain-link fence you can see in the video was somebody’s front yard,” he said.
Beanbag Hazing
Once the bear was out, he noticed some nearby CPW agents and initially looked like he was going to try approaching them.
Agents hazed the bear away by shooting it with a non-lethal beanbag round from a shotgun.
It moved away and climbed a tree.
Surmising that the bear was no longer a threat, CPW agents backed off, Miller said.
“Sometime that night, the bear felt safe enough to climb down out of the tree and leave the area,” he said.
Food Is The Problem
Trying to keep bears and people separated in Colorado is a matter of constant “public outreach,” Miller said.
Most bears are tempted into the city by possible food rewards, he said.
“We try to make people aware of very simple things, like not leaving trash out until right before it’s going to be collected,” Miller said.
Bird seed and dog food are also bear magnets when they’re left out, he said.
It’s much the same story as in the Sheridan area, where Wyoming Game and Fish officials likewise caution homeowners against unintentionally leaving out treats that might draw black bears in and keep them coming back for more.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
