Denver, Colorado - A wild scare in the big city! In Denver, a young black bear got stuck in a tree. Wildlife officials tranquilized the animal, but the subsequent drop didn't go as planned...
On Sunday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff were dispatched to an unusual incident near Louisiana Avenue and Pennsylvania Street, as the New York Post reports.
"This morning we responded to a bear in a tree near Louisiana & Pennsylvania in Denver. Not a typo. In Denver," the agency posted on X.
To safely remove the roughly one‑and‑a‑half‑year‑old bear from the densely populated area, the wildlife officers decided to tranquilize it.
Working with Denver police, they planned to catch the roughly 100-pound cub as soon as the sedative took effect and it fell from the tree – but the landing was rougher than expected!
Videos released by CPW show the bear tumbling down through several branches before the responders could secure it on the ground.
The good news: the young bear appears to have survived the fall unharmed. "It didn't have the smoothest landing, but the bear is ok!" the agency later said.
Afterward, the bear will be taken to a more suitable area and released there.
Severe drought is driving more and more bears into residential areas
Behind the quirky incident, however, lies a serious problem: Colorado is currently recording far more encounters between people and bears.
According to the wildlife agency, 6,129 reports of bear sightings and conflicts were logged between January 1 and August 13, compared with just 3,115 during the same period last year.
A major factor is the ongoing drought. Natural food sources are becoming scarce, prompting hungry bears to venture into residential areas more often in search of food.