'Not natural bear behavior': CPW needs help preventing bear habituation

DENVER (KDVR) -- Wildlife officers are warning the public about bears becoming more habituated and losing their natural fear of humans in Colorado.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said bears avoid humans and homes unless they learn to view humans as a source of food.

"Then they become aggressive and potentially dangerous," CPW said in a post on X. "They will go up to a house, rip open windows and doors to get food. This is not natural bear behavior."

Some ways that bears become habituated is when humans provide them with food, or when humans fail to properly secure trash that can attract bears.

The warning comes just over a week after CPW said it was concerned about increased human-bear conflict well ahead of hyperphagia. Alo...