One of Colorado’s very hungry black bears was caught feasting on fresh-baked bread from a booth at the Aspen farmers market over the weekend.
Videos of the bear standing on its hind legs to inhale baked goods from a table at the Louis Swiss booth in downtown Aspen on Saturday quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views and reactions on social media.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials got a report of the bear loitering in downtown Aspen while vendors were setting up the Aspen Saturday Market, spokesperson Joey Livingston said.
Aspen police hazed the bear while a CPW officer headed that way, and the bear climbed a tree and later left the area, Livingston said.
Colorado wildlife officials have recorded a record number of bear encounters and conflicts this year as the state grapples with the effects of extreme drought — which means fewer natural food sources for bears and other animals.
Bears are now bulking up for winter hibernation, a state of compulsive feeding known as hyperphagia where they eat 20,000 calories day by feasting up to 22 hours.
Though bears are facing dwindling natural food sources, feeding bears and other Colorado wildlife is illegal as it disrupts normal behavior, spreads disease and can make wild animals comfortable around humans, which makes them more likely to attack pets and people — and thus need to be euthanized, according to CPW.
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