Bear necessities: Drought sends hungry animals into US towns

The roofer got up and found two young bears about the size of golden retrievers standing in his hallway. After a staring match, they bolted out of the front door. Errico has had bears get into his garbage before but the home invasion earlier this month was a first. “I’ve definitely never heard of bears inside, you know, cubs inside someone’s house,” Errico said of bear encounters in his small mountain town of Granby, about 57 miles (92 km) northwest of Denver. The black bears, also spotted in a Granby vape shop, are among thousands heading into towns and cities across the U.S. West in record numbers. Bears have wandered near a school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, climbed a tree near a farmers market in Denver and startled humans in other ways across the country, according to video verified by Reuters, after the driest winter in memory wiped out plants, grasses, berries and nuts that form around 90% of their diet, according to bear experts and state wildlife agencies. The animals’ incredible sense of smell is drawing them to human food. That is leading to record bear deaths in some states as hundreds are euthanized, run over, shot and even electrocuted as they interact with humans, according to wildlife agencies. TESTING THE BEARS With the West’s aridification expected to continue, experts fear bears may become habituated to human food and even stop hibernating should winters become too warm and wild food too scarce. “It’s like testing the bears in a way that they’ve never been tested before, and testing humans,” black bear expert Jon Beckmann said. Development has moved people into areas where bears used to forage for food. At the same time, bear populations have rebounded in states like Nevada, where they were largely wiped out over a century ago. Black bears are now the healthiest of the world’s eight bear species, with between 17,000 and 20,000 in Colorado alone, according to state authorities. That state is bearing the brunt of encounters after its human population more than doubled in the last 50 years, pushing homes into bear country around cities like Colorado Springs and Vail. Colorado, which only has black bears, has had more than 7,000 sightings in 2026, more than the previous full-year record in 2019, according to the state’s wildlife agency. There have been at least six bear attacks in the state. Around 1.5% to 2% of sightings end in euthanization, according to Jonathan Livingston, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Bears are typically killed when they are deemed dangerous, such as when they attack humans or break into homes. Conservation groups like the Colorado Bear Coalition say the animals too often pay with their lives for human negligence, and wildlife agencies should do more to prevent conflicts. If people alert authorities to bears early, officials can usually avoid euthanizations by scaring off the animals, Livingston added. Officials and landowners in New Mexico have killed 187 bears this year, the most since 2011, according to the state’s wildlife agency, which has relocated 35 adults and 16 cubs. A bear killed a man in New Mexico last week, police reported, marking the state’s first fatal attack in 25 years. Utah authorities said they have euthanized 39 animals in 2026, already a record for any full year. In Montana, sightings are too numerous to count, with grizzlies moving into areas they have not visited in decades, the state’s wildlife agency said. Twenty-four grizzlies have died this year, most killed after attacking livestock or people or being hit by cars, according to the agency, which did not provide historical data. A man was killed by a grizzly in Montana’s Glacier National Park in May. Fatal bear attacks remain rare in the West, with a handful recorded each year. BEARMAGGEDON? Authorities are calling on residents to use bear-resistant garbage bins, not leave trash containers on the street for days and not put pet food or bird seed within reach of the animals. Clashes often begin with dumpster diving and can end with a 200- to 400-pound (91-181 kg) black bear, with 3- to 4-inch (8-10 cm) razor-sharp claws, confronting someone in their kitchen, Livingston said. Nevada bear expert Heather Reich hopes that the animals will find living around humans too stressful and return to the wild, should drought conditions ease. With bears just beginning to put on body weight for hibernation, she fears the encounters will increase. “We can’t even imagine what September and October are going to look like. It is going to be just Armageddon for us,” said Reich, a former bear manager for Nevada’s wildlife agency who now sells electric doormats to deter bears from entering homes.