Colorado Woman Found Dead After Rare Black Bear Attack
On Friday (Apr. 30), a 39-year-old Colorado woman was found dead and partially eaten after a rare black bear attack — marking the incident as the fourth fatal mauling in the state since record-keeping began in 1960. It’s said the state is home to an estimated 19,000 black bears.
While the woman’s name has been released, it’s reported that her boyfriend found her body on Friday evening near the town of Durango (about 350 miles southwest of Denver). The man told police that he came home around 8:30 p.m. and found their two dogs outside with his girlfriend MIA. As he searched a trail on private land where she often walked the dogs, he eventually found her lifeless and partially eaten body.
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials called in a dog team from from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services to search the area; this after discovering an abundance of bear scat and hair at the scene coupled with signs of consumption on the woman’s body. The dogs quickly found a sow (female) black bear with two yearlings nearby. Officials euthanized the bears and took them to CPW’s Wildlife Health Lab in Fort Collins for a necropsy. An autopsy on the woman will be performed by the La Plata County coroner early next week in order to identify the remains and determined the official cause of death.
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