A 74-year-old Colorado man was injured in his home by a black bear after the animal and its three cubs opened a partially cracked sliding glass door, authorities said.
The attack Thursday in Lake City was the first bear attack in the state this year, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The animals got into the home about 8:30 p.m., startling residents who “heard a loud crash and saw the bears entering through the door,” officials said.
The man who was injured responded by grabbing a chair and trying to direct the bear out the door, officials said.
But the animal charged him, knocking him into a wall, authorities said. The bear then swiped at the man, who was clawed on his head, neck, arms, abdomen, shoulder and calf, officials said.
He was treated at home and declined to go to the hospital. The attack could have been much worse, officials said.
“It’s certainly lucky we didn’t have a fatality, because it was close,” state Parks and Wildlife Officer Lucas Martin said.
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When law enforcement and medical personnel arrived, they found residents locked in a bedroom while the three cubs remained in the home. A county deputy was able to get the cubs to leave the house.
The sow and her cubs were euthanized after confirmation of their involvement in the attack, officials said.
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“It’s a terrible set of circumstances that, unfortunately, our district wildlife managers are routinely faced with,” Parks and Wildlife 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.”
Before last week’s incident, there had been eight reports this year of bear activity in Hinsdale County, where Lake City is, officials said. Lake City is about 255 miles southwest of Denver.
Last year, six bear attacks were reported across Colorado, according to Parks and Wildlife.
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