Bear, 3 cubs break into Colorado home, attack 74-year-old man who survived injuries

A black bear attacked and significantly injured a 74-year-old man after it entered his home in Colorado with three of her cubs.

The elderly man, who has not been identified, was at his home around 8:30 p.m. last Thursday, when the bear and her three cubs "opened a partially cracked sliding glass door and entered the home," Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said in a news release Saturday.

"The residents in the home were startled when they heard a loud crash and saw the bears entering through the door," the department said.

Upon seeing the bear, the victim "grabbed a chair from the kitchen" and tried to direct the bear out of the door. However, the bear turned aggressive and charged at the man, knocking him into a wall before briefly standing over him.

"The bear swiped at the man, who incurred significant wounds from being clawed, including wounds to the head, neck, both arms, lower abdomen, shoulder and calf," the news release said.

Authorities and law enforcement officers arrived at the scene to find the sow's three cubs still inside the house. Other residents in the home had attempted to "haze the bears away" but failed and escaped the wild animals by locking themselves in a bedroom, the news release said.

Bears euthanized

A deputy with the Hinsdale County Sheriff's Department was eventually able to get the cubs out of the home and all four bears then climbed onto the trees outside the home. The bears were later euthanized after preliminary confirmation of their involvement in the attack. Their remains were sent to CPW's health lab in Fort Collins to be tested for disease and to undergo a full necropsy.

“It’s a terrible set of circumstances that, unfortunately, our District Wildlife Managers are routinely faced with," CPW Area Wildlife Manager Brandon Diamond said in a statement. "Clearly, these bears were highly habituated and were willing to enter an occupied house with the residents sitting just feet away. When a bear reaches this level of human habituation, clearly a lot of interaction with people has already happened, and unless communities are working with us collaboratively and communicating issues, we have no opportunity (but) to intervene.”

Close call

Wildlife officer Lucas Martin said the encounter was a "close" call and it was "certainly lucky" that there was no fatality.

The victim was treated for his wounds on the scene by emergency medical personnel and declined to be transported to the hospital.

Multiple sows with cubs in town

Bears are common in and around Lake City, about 135 miles south of Grand Junction, CPW said, adding the agency had received eight official reports of bear activity in Hinsdale County prior to Friday night's attack, which was the first for this year. However, the department said they are "aware of chatter on social media related to bears getting into unoccupied homes and garages in the area throughout the late summer and early fall."

“When we have multiple sows with multiple cubs in town and conflict is occurring based on the ongoing availability of human food sources, it creates a very complex situation to mitigate,” Martin said in a statement. “Unfortunately, cub bears that are taught these behaviors by their mother may result in generations of conflict between bears and people.”

Keeping this in mind, CPW is urging residents to report all bear sighting and encounters to the department by calling their nearest CPW office to prevent conflicts from happening and "escalating to the level of an attack."

“We sometimes hear through the rumor mill or grapevine of bears getting in through open windows or entering garages and that kind of stuff,” Martin said. “Often, people want to get on social media and post about it, but they never actually call the authorities. We don’t only want calls when something escalates to this level. We want to be able to do some management before things get to this level.”

There have been 96 reported bear attacks on humans in Colorado since 1960, according to the department.

The CPW is also urging residents to remove attractants and secure all food sources so that bears are not attracted to areas occupied by humans.

How to avoid danger:Black bears are wandering into human places more

How to avoid conflicts with bear

Colorado Parks and Wildlife recommends the following tips and precautions to keep bears away from your homes and prevent human/wildlife conflicts:

• Keep garbage in a well-secured location.
• Use a bear-resistant trash can or dumpster or clean cans regularly to remove food odors
• Don't leave pet food or stock feed outside.
• Bird feeders are a major source of bear/human conflicts Do not hang bird feeders from April 15 to Nov. 15.
• Do not attract other wildlife such as deer, turkey other small mammals by feeding them.
• Don’t allow bears to become comfortable around your house. If you see one, yell at it, throw things at it, make noise to scare it off.
• Secure compost piles. Bears are attracted to the scent of rotting food.
• Clean the grill after each use.
• Clean-up thoroughly after picnics in the yard or on the deck.
• If you have fruit trees, don't allow the fruit to rot on the ground.
• Keep small livestock, animals in a fully covered enclosures. Construct electric fencing if possible.
• Don’t store livestock food outside, keep enclosures clean to minimize odors, hang rags soaked in ammonia and/or Pine-Sol around the enclosure.
• If you have beehives, install electric fencing where allowed.
• Talk to your neighbors and kids about being bear aware.
• Keep garage doors closed.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.