Bear killed after spending six hours inside Colorado home

Bear killed after spending six hours inside Colorado home

A bear with a hankering for human food was killed by wildlife officers after it spent six hours foraging for snacks inside a home while its owner slept upstairs, the third time the bear had encroached on kitchens and garages in as many weeks. 

Homeowner Chris O’Dubhraic, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, posted a nearly 40 minute, night vision surveillance video of the home-invading bear inside his kitchen â€" just a fraction of the six hours the canny ursidae spent inside his house while he slept soundly upstairs. 

In the video, captured by a Nest camera on Monday starting at about 11pm, the wily bear can be seen standing on its hind legs to open a refrigerator door, poking its snout into drawers and cabinets and leisurely wandering around the kitchen. 

A 375 pound bear spent six hours trashing Chris O'Dubhraic's Colorado home in search of food

The 375 pound bear also 'trashed' O'Dubhraic's pantry and meandered into 'every open door, including two bedrooms,' Colorado Parks and Wildlife public information officer Bill Vogrin told The Gazette. 

O'Dubhraic said that the bear not only pulled the pantry door off its hinges, but managed to open and destroy the kitchen trash compactor by twisting it sideways. 

'It takes an enormous amount of strength, something I could never do,' O’Dubhraic said.

O'Dubhraic noted that the bear had chowed down on food including strawberries, blueberries, cherries, pineapples and organic apple oatmeal â€" items he'd only recently purchased. 

The bear was caught on surveillance camera as it ransacked O'Dubhraic's fridge, opened kitchen drawers and cabinets and meandered around the house for six hours

Wildlife officials said that the bear entered the house through a broken crank-style window. In addition to the kitchen, the bear entered every room with an open door

O'Dubhraic was asleep in his bedroom, behind a closed door, when the bear entered his house. He was suffering from jetlag and remained fast asleep while the bear was inside

The bear had also urinated multiple times in the house, which O'Dubhraic said officials told him was likely the bear's efforts to mark the house so it could return later and continue foraging for food. 

Shockingly, O'Dubhraic slept â€" behind a closed door â€" through the bear's six hour escapade inside his home.

Due to severe jet lag following a three and a half month business trip to Asia, O'Dubhraic said that he has a hard time staying up later than 5pm, which explained why he had no idea he had an unexpected house guest. It wasn't until he woke up at about 5.30am on Tuesday, that he saw the destruction wrought by the bear.

Upon seeing paw prints on his fridge and scratches on his kitchen cabinets, he called 911. 

Although the bear was gone by the time O’Dubhraic entered the kitchen, he said he 'heard some rustling and some noise' that he suspects came from the bear.

He said that the sounds sent 'a shiver went up my spine.' 

The bear got into his home via a first floor crank-style window that had been left slightly open after it was damaged during a recent windstorm. Vogrin said that the bear broke the crank and 'popped' open the window. 

'This was a smart bear, a dangerous bear, so it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt. We’re lucky it didn’t happen last night,' Vogrin said. 

Based on its markings, behavior and abnormal size, wildlife officers responding to O'Dubhraic's call identified the bear as having been the same one that a nother homeowner found eating ice cream and M&Ms it had stolen from a nearby home, as well as trapping neighbor Denielle Backstrom in her SUV â€" an event she captured on camera â€" as it roamed around her garage. Both incidents occurred in late June.  

Vogrin said that Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists believe that the bear 'learned that the sound of a garage door opening meant dinner.'  

Weighing in at more than 75 pounds above the upper limits of what a male bear of its age is expected to weigh, Vogrin said that, 'This bear was so fat from eating human food it couldn’t climb a tree...so it made a bed under a tree.'

In late June, O'Dubhraic's neighbor, Denille Backstrom, captured the bear on camera while it trapped her in her SUV while she was in her garage

Backstrom was just one of several neighborhood residents who reported that the bear had been digging through trash cans and coming face-to-face with them over the years

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers teamed up with US Department of Agriculture wildlife service officers to hunt the bear, due to the increased potential of danger to human health and safety following its invasion of O'Dubhraic's house.

The bear was shot by a USDA officer after it was spotted in O'Dubhraic's neighbor's yard at about 10am on Tuesday. 

'The bear turned and came roaring through the scrub oak,' Vogrin said, adding that, 'It was one shot â€" a very safe, clean, efficient shot so there was no risk to neighboring houses.' 

Following Backstrom's garage incident in June, wildlife officers had tried to capture the bear with traps that had been baited with food including doughnuts, icing, syrup and dog food, Vogrin said. But, the bear didn't fall for those traps.  

Neighbors told wildlife officers that the bear had a long history of digging through trash cans and coming face-to-face with people in their garages and homes in the neighborhood.  

One of the reasons the bear needed to be euthanized was due to the fact that 'it learned humans are not to be feared and homes are a source of food,' Vogrin said. 

Killing the bear might not have been necessary if residents had reported the bear's uncharacteristic behavior four years prior. Back then, wildlife officers could've 'scared it back in the woods and taught it that humans are to be feared and homes avoided.'

It's estimated that Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers euthanize about 100 bears every year, tagging and relocating an additi onal 100 bears. 

The department encourages residents to call authorities when they see bears roaming their neighborhoods, so the bears can be dealt with humanely before they become a potential threat to humans and need to be killed as a last resort.

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