{"id":696,"date":"2026-05-21T20:04:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=696"},"modified":"2026-05-21T20:04:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:04:05","slug":"denver-metro-bear-sightings-likely-to-increase-amid-colorado-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=696","title":{"rendered":"Denver metro bear sightings likely to increase amid Colorado drought"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hungry bears may venture further into neighborhoods in search of food this year as the drought depletes their natural dining hall, but so far the animals\u2019 activity is normal for this time of year, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

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Arvada police officials warned residents earlier this week that the city had seen an uptick in bear sightings, and at least one bear has been spotted wandering from yard to yard in Wheat Ridge.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s likely too early to connect those sightings to the ongoing drought, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Public Information Officer Kara Van Hoose said.<\/p>\n

Colorado wildlife officials have seen an influx of bear sighting reports this month, but the numbers are fairly close to this time last year, Van Hoose said. Beyond the mountains, bear sightings are common in Jefferson, Douglas, Adams and Arapahoe counties, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live at this confluence of open space and development,\u201d Van Hoose said. \u201cBears use open space, and if it\u2019s next to a neighborhood that has trash sitting out, they\u2019re going to venture into that neighborhood. \u2026 We kind of all live in bear country.\u201d<\/p>\n

But drought is a concern, she said. It can affect bears\u2019 natural food sources and pull them further into the metro as they search for a meal, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBears have to eat, and they normally would be eating things like berries, cherries, nuts \u2014 things they can find in the wild,\u201d Van Hoose said. \u201cWhen you have drought that\u2019s affecting the bounty of all of these, \u2026 the easiest food sources are things like human trash, bird feeders, pet food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s bears start to wake up in late March or early April, and reports of sightings typically increase in May, Van Hoose said. With only a few weeks of data, it\u2019s too soon to tell if there\u2019s an increase in sightings or trends across different counties, she said.<\/p>\n

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State wildlife offices receive the most bear sighting reports when the animals are in hyperphagia and trying to eat as many calories as possible to put on weight before winter, typically spanning a period between September and November, Van Hoose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrought is certainly a concern when it comes to bear habitat and food availability, but we can\u2019t definitively say yet that because of drought we are seeing more bears,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019re going to keep our eye on throughout the year, but it\u2019s too early to tell right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another concern for the bears\u2019 food availability is the recent swings in temperatures between balmy summer weather and overnight freezes, she said.<\/p>\n

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Late-season deep freezes can wipe out fruit \u2014 and have already destroyed harvests from orchards in the North Fork Valley on Colorado\u2019s Western Slope.<\/p>\n

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The drought and abnormally warm winter exacerbated the damage from the freeze because the fruit was growing ahead of schedule. Now, wildlife officers are concerned that the wild fruit that bears depend upon may also have been affected, Van Hoose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had this snap back to rain and snow that puts those berries in jeopardy, because if they\u2019ve started to bloom and then you get the really cold temperatures, then they die off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Previous years with late-season snowstorms and post-Mother\u2019s Day cold snaps resulted in lower food availability for bears and more sightings in the metro area, Van Hoose said.<\/p>\n

Residents should lock their trash away, clean their grills, take down their bird feeders and clear other sources of food from around their homes to prevent attracting bears, Van Hoose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s everybody, it\u2019s not just the people who have seen bears before,\u201d she said. \u201cWe take reports from people who have lived in their house for decades and have never seen a bear, and then all of a sudden they see one and they didn\u2019t know that was a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, she said, despite trending social media posts she\u2019s seen encouraging people to leave water out for wild animals during the drought, the best thing to do is leave the animals alone.<\/p>\n

Leaving out food or water encourages bears to come closer to the home, which can lead to conflict, Van Hoose said. It can also spread disease because it attracts numerous animals of different species to congregate in the same spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildlife don\u2019t need our help,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve lived through drought years before, they know where to find resources and we should remove things that \u2026 teach them to rely on us for food or water so they\u2019re able to find what they should be eating and drinking naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read more 1 killed in northeast Denver shooting, police say<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bears may venture further into the Denver metro in search of food this year amid the drought, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colorado-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDenver metro bear sightings likely to increase amid Colorado drought - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=696\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Denver metro bear sightings likely to increase amid Colorado drought - 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