Colorado Parks and Wildlife Introduces Bear Aware Videos

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Courtesy Photo

DENVER – Colorado Parks and Wildlife announces the release of four bear aware videos to educate the public about how to deal with bears in Colorado.

As Colorado’s human population continues to grow, there are more people living and recreating in bear country. The potential for conflict will inevitably rise, but there are actions humans can take to mitigate bear break-ins, conflicts or run-ins on the trail.

Bears have an extremely keen sense of smell and excellent memories. Once they have learned about a reliable source of food, they will often return. Once this occurs, it requires significant diligence on the part of people to keep these food-conditioned bears from coming back and creating conflicts.

“CPW is committed to teaching the public about bears on every channel available to us,” said Kristin Cannon, district wildlife manager for Boulder. “While we have many great wildlife-related videos on our website and YouTube channel, we felt we were overdue on showing the public how to live in or visit bear country. Hopefully, these videos will help Colorado natives, newcomers and visitors learn the tools to providing a safe and bear-friendly community.”

All of the new videos are available on CPW’s easy-to-remember bear Web page at:cpw.state.co.us/bears or they can be found on the CPW YouTube channel:

Bearproofing Your Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thv_eYXs0XU

Solving Your Bear Problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftrY2UZTw6k

Camping & Hiking In Bear Country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIJecAN_yOw

What to Do if You See a Bear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB5AS6BRuY8

“We hope against hope that people will be mindful of how fortunate we are to live in a state with such diverse wildlife and that we can all work together through common sense decisions to protect these beautiful creatures for future generations,” said Larry Rogstad, area wildlife manager for Boulder/Broomfield/southern Weld counties. “Wildlife officers are generally called on to intervene at the end of a long process. The bottom line is that by living mindfully the public has the greatest opportunity to lower risk to wildlife as we share an ever smaller world.”

For more information on living with bears in Colorado, visit: www.cpw.state.co.us/bears