{"id":46506,"date":"2021-06-01T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T23:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mother-bear-euthanized-after-man-attacked-in-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:32:06","slug":"mother-bear-euthanized-after-man-attacked-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mother-bear-euthanized-after-man-attacked-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother bear euthanized after man attacked in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A black bear shown in this archive photo. Local bear expert Lyle Willmarth says he spotted a large male bear Monday a few miles north of Bayfield.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 Wildlife officials in Colorado have euthanized a mother bear after a man was attacked in his home.<\/p>\n

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the homeowner noticed the door to his garage open Sunday around 11 p.m. when he encountered a bear and two cubs. The man stored birdseed and other attractants in the garage of his home in Steamboat Springs, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Denver.<\/p>\n

The agency said in a statement on Monday that the man tried to slowly back away when the mother bear attacked, causing severe lacerations to his head and legs. Officials said the man underwent surgery and is expected to survive.<\/p>\n

Wildlife officials, park rangers and other authorities responded to the home and quickly located the bear, which was euthanized and sent to a lab for necropsy. The cubs have not yet been found, but officials said they will be moved to a rehabilitation facility when captured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unfortunate reminder that we need to stay vigilant and \u2018bear aware\u2019 at all times,\u201d said Kyle Bond, district wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. \u201cEasy access to food will always override a bear\u2019s natural fear of people, so we humans have to stay on top of keeping all food sources secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 30, a woman from Durango was found dead off County Road 203 near Trimble Lane, north of Durango.<\/p>\n

Necropsy results from the bears and the autopsy results confirmed the bears caused her death, said La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey grabbed her by the neck,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was extensive damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman, Laney Malavolta, was apparently on a walk with her dogs at the time of the attack, according to the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A black bear shown in this archive photo. Local bear expert Lyle Willmarth says he spotted a large male bear Monday a few miles north of Bayfield.Durango Herald file STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 Wildlife officials in Colorado have euthanized a mother bear after a man was attacked in his home. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86907,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46506\/revisions\/86907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46506"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}