Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Ouray Police Department are investigating a Ouray woman’s report that she was attacked by a bear behind the Beaumont Hotel in Ouray early Saturday morning.
Authorities have not confirmed that an attack did in fact take place but are looking into the woman’s claims.
The 49-year-old woman told officials she was walking by herself in an alley between Fourth Street and the hotel at 505 Main St. when she came upon a mother bear and three cubs in a trash container, Ouray interim Police Chief Daric Harvey told the Plaindealer.
The woman said the female bear attacked her and that she yelled and fought back, Harvey said. A witness called 911 to report the attack at 12:13 a.m.
The woman reportedly received minor punctures and scratches and was taken by a private vehicle to Montrose Regional Health.
Security video provided by the police department in response to a records request from the Plaindealer shows the bear and three cubs running through an alley early Saturday morning. As the cubs scamper away, the video also captures a woman yelling and a man saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” and “Are you OK?”
The video does not show the reported attack.
CPW spokesman John Livingston said Sunday afternoon that wildlife officers briefly spotted the female bear outside Ouray Saturday night but that the bear didn’t come into town. He said officers would look for opportunities to try to haze the bear and encourage her to stay away from town.
Harvey said he is investigating to determine who owns the trash container and find out whether there was a violation of the city’s ordinance governing how residents and business owners are supposed to contain their trash.
The ordinance says residential containers should only be placed out on the morning trash is to be collected. Trash is collected in Ouray on Thursday morning. At all other times, the ordinance says, trash containers must be stored on residential property and “shall remain in a closed or latched position and in a manner to prevent or significantly inhibit access by wildlife, or stored within an enclosed structure or building.”
The ordinance does not require bear-resistant trash containers for residential use.
A separate section of the ordinance for commercial trash containers says those containers must have tight-fitting metal lids or hardened, plastic lids with metal reinforcement that can be latched. The containers can’t be overfilled.
A news release issued by Ouray police Sunday says police and CPW officers will increase patrols in areas known to be frequented by bears. Harvey emphasized the need for people to properly contain their trash and said he will issue citations to home and business owners who violate the trash ordinance.
“We need to remove the food source,” he said.
Read the full story in the May 22 Plaindealer.
