A bear is free after it was found stuck in a storm drain near Lower Gold Camp Road on the west side of Colorado Springs.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers and Colorado Springs utilities worked together to remove a manhole cover on top of the drain, giving the bear a route to escape.
A CPW shot the bear with non-lethal rubber slugs to discourage it from coming back around humans. If the bear had not been able to escape on its own, it would have been tagged. The next time it was handled, it would have had to be euthanized.
Because the bear ran away from the area unassisted, it will not receive an ear tag.
Why did this bear pick this storm drain in this neighborhood? Within eyesight maybe a hundred yards away, @COParksWildlife officers found an open garbage receptacle filled with garbage and branches from a tree filled with berries. pic.twitter.com/L9aW3evFhU
— CPW SE Region (@CPW_SE) July 26, 2018
While it is raining in Colorado Springs and other areas of El Paso County are under a flash flood warning, there was not a significant amount of water running into the storm drain.
