Wildlife officials in Durango, Colorado rescued a giant black bear that was hiding beneath a deck in a residential area. According to a report from Newsweek, the nearly 400-pound bear was removed from the premises by five wildlife officials with the use of a tranquillizer dart, and it has since been moved to a more suitable environment.
John Livingston, a spokesperson for Colorado's Department of Natural Resources, told Newsweek, "This bear may not have specifically chosen this deck to den underneath for the winter, but it may have been considering it."
"All of our wildlife officers who reported to the scene described it as the biggest bear they had ever seen in the town," he added.
The black bear (Ursus americanus), often known as the American bear or black bear, is the most widespread bear in North American woods, including certain areas of northern Mexico. Black bears are considered carnivores, yet they eat a variety of foods. They eat newly sprouting plants and winter-dead animals' corpses in the spring.
The crew rescued the bear from beneath the deck, gave it a short medical checkup, and administered a reversal medication to reverse the effects of the tranquillizer.
According to Newsweek, bears all around the country are preparing to hibernate for the winter after a month of eating any food they can find.
"This time of year (late October), bears are on the search for a good, suitable den site to get through the winter," Mr Livingston further said.
Across the U.S., bear sightings have been on the rise in recent years, with many reports coming from residential areas. "So far this year, we have had 4,009 reports to Colorado Parks and Wildlife regarding bear activity," he further said.
According to Dana Wilson, a spokesperson for the conservation group Wildlife SOS, as he explained the reason behind the rise in such cases, "There are more people living and recreating in traditional bear habitats, and wildlife spaces are shrinking," he told Newsweek.
"As bears become habituated to people, they become less fearful," Mr Wilson added.
