A bear injured in the East Canyon Fire earlier this summer west of Durango was released Monday after a successful rehabilitation.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife received a call from fire personnel around 5 p.m. June 16 that an injured bear was walking around the perimeter of the fire, located near the La Plata-Montezuma county line.
CPW crews mobilized, grabbing a tranquilizer gun and traps, and headed to the scene. Wildlife officers searched for the bear and located it near a pond.
The bear was shot with a tranquilizer and was out about five minutes later. Upon examination, the bear was determined to be male, less than 50 pounds and about 2 years old.
“Unfortunately, it looked like it had some severe burns on its feet,” Matt Thorpe, a wildlife manager for CPW, said at the time. “It was clearly worth taking it to our rehab facility.”
The bear was taken to the Frisco Creek Rehabilitation Facility in Del Norte, where it was determined the injury must have happened just a day or two before the bear was found because there were no signs of infection.
Within days, the bear was back on its feet, and it has been good news ever since. Over the past few weeks, the bear’s paws were treated and healed. The animal was then placed in a regular pen where it had trees to climb and places to hide.
“He was a good patient,” Michael Sirochman, veterinary technician and manager of the Frisco Creek facility, said in a statement.
On Monday, CPW took the bear, now weighing about 110 pounds, to a remote location not far from where it was found. The bear quickly jumped out of its container and into the cover of the aspen forest, CPW said.
“Now, he’s got food, he’s got water, he’s got everything he needs,” Wildlife Officer Steve McClung said in a statement. “And I hope I never see him again.”
CPW believes the bear is well-equipped to survive on its own in the wild. No tracking devices were placed on the animal.
The situation is similar to that in 2018 during the 416 Fire when a cub was rescued after suffering injuries from the fire north of Durango.
That bear was released in winter 2019 after being successfully treated. Thorpe said previously there haven’t been any sightings of the 416 Fire bear, which was tagged, or any reports that it was harvested by a hunter.
“We’ve had no contact with it,” Thorpe said. “We’re taking that as a positive sign that it’s out in the woods.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com