Every year, The Chinese zodiac calendar determines a specific animal and element associated with said year. This year it is the dragon, but, in Aspen, it is the year of the bear.
Bear encounters are on the rise in Aspen, and I am one of those numbers. On the morning of September 16, 2024, I was met with pure fear inside the comfort of my home. A bear had leisurely walked into my home through the front door.
When my cat growled and ran into my room, running up the stairs into the loft, I knew something was wrong. He’s an outdoor cat, not much can spook him.
My dad walked down our hallway into the living room after hearing the sound of glass breaking, and saw a large black bear standing by our dining room table. I immediately went into shock when my dad yelled, “bear!” My parents locked themselves in their room, and I locked myself in mine. I was alone and vulnerable, finding it hard to breathe, and thinking of every possible negative outcome.
About a minute or two later, my parents told me to come to their room. I ran across the hall, which felt like forever, to my parents room, where my mom was already on the phone with the police. Almost immediately after I fled my room, the bear entered it. The bear sniffed around, didn’t smell anything yummy, and found an exit.
I like my room to be extremely cold, to get cozy under my covers, so I typically have my window open throughout the night. The bear pushed my window screen out, climbed out of my window, and onto my back porch. The sliding door to go onto the porch is in my parents room, so we have a very clear, and quite intense view of the bear.
My porch is on the second story, so the bear had trouble climbing down. After multiple attempts, the bear, thankfully, found its way down, climbing down a slim Aspen tree off to the side of my porch.
After 10 grueling minutes of fight or flight, I felt like I could breathe again. The police arrived, but the bear had wandered off. My parents and I immediately assessed the living room, expecting it to be filthy, but to our surprise, the bear had only a stick of butter that we stored in a butter dish on the counter.
Although the situation was terrifying, all we could do was laugh about it, and be so incredibly grateful that our house wasn’t violated and destroyed.
My dad, especially, was grateful our house wasn’t destroyed, because on August 22, 2024, A mother bear and her two cubs broke into my dad’s kitchen in the Willow Creek Bistro, in Highlands, and had to deal with the destruction. The bears were there from 3:00 to 5:00 in the morning eating every sweet thing in the fridges. That bear family was channeling their inner Winnie the Pooh.
On September 5 2024, I slammed the brakes when a bear ran across the highway near Truscott, and on September 6, I witnessed another bear walking across a road near Basalt without a care in the world.
On September 8, 2024, a mother bear was shot and killed in Willits. Its two cubs had to be rescued and relocated. The situation could have been prevented by a simple loud noise, but instead, it escalated, to the mother bear being shot while trying to flee to a tree.
On September 23, 2024, A mother bear and her cub broke into AMS around 2am. Students and staff were directed to the AHS gymnasium, and were stationed there for an hour and a half before the bear was sedated and taken out of the building.
Each one of these encounters emphasizes that we have invaded the bear’s space, and they are not invading ours. Yes, it invaded my home, but technically, this valley was its home long before humans got here.
Although the bears are much more active than I have ever seen before, it is not for no reason. They are starving, and it is not easy to meet their dietary needs during the fall. Bears need 20,000 calories a day in the fall, for their hibernation when the leaves fall off, and the snow starts to fall. They are simply trying to get as much food into their bodies as possible to survive.
The best thing we can do is follow the City of Aspen’s Bear and Wildlife page. It is there to help us reduce encounters, and save the bears from euthanization.
Do not be afraid to report a bear encounter. According to The Aspen Times, “A common misconception is that reporting a bear encounter will lead to the bear being euthanized or relocated. Gonzales and Xaiz, however, assured that this is not the case. The primary focus is on removing the opportunity for bears to access human food.”
