Monthly Archives: April 2012

NUISANCE BEAR PUT DOWN IN CRAIG

Craig residents had a close encounter with a bear this morning, with an outcome no one was hoping for.  Just after daybreak officers received a report of a bear in the city limits.  When they located the animal, it had treed itself in the front yard of a home on Mack Lane.  It was noted that the bear had a brightly colored “nuisance tag” on its left ear.  Officers from the Division of Wildlife, State Patrol. Craig Police Department, Moffat County Sheriff’s Department and the Craig Fire Department responded.  After bringing in a cage to transport the bear, DOW employees shot it with a tranquilizer gun, causing the animal to climb down.  Following a run through Woodbury Park, with officers in chase, the bear continued past the Public Safety Center to a home on Ranney Street near the railroad tracks, where it climbed another tree.  After being shot again with a tranquilizer gun, the bear climbed down and ran into a field where the DOW had the opportunity of a clear shot with a backstop, killing the bear with two shots.  The DOW officer that killed the bear expressed regret in having to shoot the animal but under Colorado’s “two strikes, you’re out” policy, wildlife officers must trap and tag nuisance bears. If a problem bear becomes a nuisance a second time, it is killed.  A photo gallery of the five hour ordeal can be seen below.