The sight of white-tailed deer in our own backyards or along the side of residential roads is a common appearance in the Colorado Springs area; however, bears are not quite such a day-to-day occurrence. Around the beginning of November, a family of black bears (a mama and two cubs) made their home in the Rockrimmon community. For multiple weeks, these bears were seen wandering along Woodmen Road or meandering through yards, and in some cases, they even explored into residents’ garages. In years past, the occasional spotting of a few bears has been recorded, but this particular family always kept coming back for more – until the point where it developed into a daily occurrence.

As the bears became a popular topic around the neighborhood, Colorado Parks & Wildlife was inevitably introduced to the situation. Black bears do not pose a particularly strong threat to humans, and according to a Colorado Parks & Wildlife pamphlet about ‘living with bears’, “Black bears are naturally shy, and very wary of people and other unfamiliar things. Their normal response to any perceived danger is to run away.” However, the longer they are within range of a large group of people, “the more likely they will have an encounter with a human, which would be unfortunate for both parties.”

In the Peregrine neighborhood, one resident delivered papers on November 14 titled “Update On Neighborhood Bears,” which included information received from a talk with the Colorado Parks & Wildlife office. Black bears usually retreat to their dens for winter in late October or early November. Initially, Colorado Parks & Wildlife hoped to tag their den and relocate the family, but as time wore on and hibernation drew closer, this prospect became risky for the safety and health of the bears. Now, they had to resort to advising residents to discourage the bears from hanging around the neighborhood and urge them into hibernation. The resident wrote: “These bears will not settle into their den until there are no longer viable food sources available for them in the area, specifically: garbage, pet food, and bird feeders. Please keep garage doors closed and do not put trash out until Monday morning. The warm weather has kept them active longer this year; the food has kept them coming back.”

Despite the effort to shoo the bears away from the neighborhood, they didn’t seem to pay much attention to the humans. Even a week following the release of information from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, the family was still seen romping around the Peregrine community. Most residents didn’t mind, as watching them provided a great deal of entertainment and there were no signs of the animals being aggressive. One garage door was left open due to the entering and leaving of men remodeling a resident’s kitchen. Two curious cubs, one cinnamon-colored and one chocolate-colored, decided to investigate and stumbled upon a large bag of animal crackers – they then proceeded to tear it open on the driveway and scatter its contents everywhere. Eventually, they were scared off by the shaking of a soda can full of rocks – one of the few methods that proved to be effective in warding them off. One of the other methods suggested to scare them off was to throw rocks or other small items at the bears. However, when pelted with tennis balls, the cinnamon-colored cub was only intrigued by the strange object and provided some humorous picture-ops. A Rockrimmon resident said, “The cubs were in the hammock across from my house, actually swinging and knocking each other out of it. So cute.” Similar incidents were reported around the community.

Although these bears were arguably cute and fun to watch, like any wild animal, they can be dangerous. Mother bears are particularly protective over their young, and prove to be vicious when she feels that they are threatened. Although no encounters with humans ever occurred, the sooner they retreated to their dens, the safer for everyone. The resident had written, “While the CPW did not mention the consequences of a human encounter or a home break-in, I think we all know what would happen to the bears in both cases.” After Colorado Springs’ first big snow (around November 20^th,) the family finally seemed to think it was time to go to sleep for the winter. Since then, the sightings have been sparse and almost nonexistent, but maybe we’ll be seeing them again when spring time rolls around.

Gallery • 3 Photos

The two cubs, cinnamon-colored on top and chocolate-colored on the bottom.