Bears on the Move: Drought Drives Hungry Black Bears into Colorado Towns

When Patrick Sullivan heard a car horn blaring at 3 a.m. while he was feeding his infant son, he assumed the culprit was an irate neighbor. Instead, a startled black bear had managed to open the door of a parked Toyota SUV in Gold Hill, Colorado, and was now stuck inside, pawing at the steering wheel and honking the horn as if it were a desperate plea for help.

"It’s totaled. It’s unfit to drive," Sullivan later said, looking at the shredded interior. His brother‑in‑law eventually tugged a rope attached to the door handle, and the bear bolted for the woods, bewildered but unharmed. This odd incident is just one of hundreds that have dotted the summer landscape of the Rockies as a relentless drought robs wildlife of the nuts, berries and greens they normally rely on.

Across Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, officials are reporting twice the number of bear sightings and confrontations compared with a typical year. Hungry black bears, once content to linger in mountain forests, are now showing up on the high plains, rummaging through trash cans, sniffing out bird feeders, and even crashing into parked cars.

"Bears aren’t necessarily behaving any differently, but they are definitely increasing their activity in the places that they’re looking for food," explained Travis Sauder, a wildlife officer in southeastern Colorado. He noted that bears have been spotted more than an hour’s drive east of Colorado Springs—territory where oaks and chokecherries, the usual food sources, are practically nonexistent.

Human food waste is the biggest magnet. Open garage pet food, unsecured trash bins, grease traps under grills—each is a beacon for a starving bear. Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s data show a sharp uptick in incidents linked to improperly stored garbage. When bears learn that a driveway or a dumpster equals a buffet, they become repeat visitors, and that’s when officials have to make the painful decision to euthanize them.

The mantra circulating among wildlife managers is stark: "A fed bear is a dead bear." The logic is simple—once a bear associates people with easy calories, it loses its natural wariness and can become a threat to both humans and itself.

Most of the encounters have been more nuisance than violence. A black bear perched in a downtown Denver tree was tranquilized and relocated without incident. In Fort Collins, a bear that wandered onto a university campus during move‑in week was captured and released miles away. Yet, there have been a handful of aggressive episodes. In June, a hiker in Golden, Colorado, was chased and scratched by a bear that seemed intent on defending its find. A fisherman southwest of Denver was later bit by a young bear; the animal was tracked, shot, and killed.

Even beyond Colorado, the story is similar. Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources reports more than three dozen bears killed this year—already exceeding the combined total of the previous three years. In New Mexico, 187 bears have been removed, the highest figure since 2011, often after they were caught raiding homes or trash.

Scientists point to climate change as the underlying driver. The Upper Colorado River Basin recorded its lowest snowpack on record this year, and wildfires have scarred swaths of bear habitat. "Human‑animal conflicts in the context of climate change haven’t really been fully researched yet," says Samantha Miller, senior carnivore campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We’re just beginning to tease out what this means for us and the species we share the ecosystem with."

Not every tale ends bleakly. Rescue teams have successfully rehabilitated orphaned cubs, teaching them to forage before releasing them back into the wild. Andy Kerrigan of Steamboat Springs recounts how a bear cub slipped into his truck, snatched his lunch, and then clung to the seat as if it owned the vehicle. With a piece of wood, Kerrigan shooed the inquisitive youngster out, and the bear disappeared into the trees.

For now, the message to residents of the Rockies is clear: secure your trash, keep pet food indoors, and never feed wildlife. Simple steps can keep bears wild and people safe, and perhaps give these magnificent creatures a chance to survive another scorching summer.