Boulder residents reminded to secure trash following bear attack
Kara Van Hoose
September 9, 2025
Boulder residents reminded to secure trash following bear attack
DENVER — Colorado Parks and Wildlife is reminding Boulder residents to take extra precautions during bear hyperphagia to secure trash after a bear injured a resident Saturday evening. While they prepare to enter torpor or hibernation, bear sightings and conflicts with humans can increase during their search for food, including inside city limits.
Around 11 p.m. Saturday, a man was walking his two dogs on-leash along High Street in Boulder. A sow, with a cub nearby, started to charge the man and the two dogs, according to a statement made to CPW officers. As he tried to run away, the resident told CPW he tripped over the dogs’ leashes, and the sow then scratched the man across his back. He described his injuries to CPW as superficial.
When CPW officers responded to the scene, they found an overturned trash can and evidence of bear activity. They were unable to locate the sow and cub after several hours of searching. Boulder has a high concentration of bears due to its proximity to the mountains and natural food supply. CPW is aware of multiple sows and their cubs in the area over the past few weeks.
“Colorado Parks and Wildlife should always be the first call when bears are spotted in town,” said Area Wildlife Manager Jason Duetsch. “The resident experiencing bear conflicts should contact CPW directly as we are able to provide education, advice and track wildlife movement in order to make more-informed management decisions. While bears are trying to bulk up for winter, it’s especially important to stay vigilant about trash so they are not rewarded with non-natural food.”
In late summer through fall hyperphagia, bears will eat up to 20,000 calories per day to sustain themselves through the winter torpor period. CPW receives the most sightings and conflict reports during this time because bears are more active and visible in human spaces. Trash is, by far, the number one attractant to bears. Securing trash in bear-resistant cans, keeping trash locked away until the morning of pick-up, routinely locking garages, cars, and windows, and taking down birdfeeders will help reduce the likelihood of bears eating trash. Once a bear has been rewarded with human food or trash, they will return to the area again and again to keep searching for food. Bears will continue this pattern until the food source is removed.
Hazing can also help deter bears from human spaces. Hazing is making wildlife uncomfortable around humans through lights and sounds. It reinforces their natural fear of humans. Accessible, effective forms of hazing can include motion-detected lights, airhorns, car alarms, banging pots and pans, loud music and simply yelling at bears.
For further questions about bear-proofing homes or living with wildlife, please contact a CPW office or visit the BearWise® website.
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 43 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW's work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.
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