COLORADO — Bears will be going into hibernation in the coming months and most are now in full blown hangry mode.
Another term is hyperphagia, or an increased hunger and appetite as they fatten up for winter hibernation.
This means that encounters between bears and humans could increase.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife reports that since April, there have been over 4,000 reports of bear incidents in the state. 500 of those have been in the News 5 viewing area.
There's been a good food source for them. We didn't have a late freeze or anything like that, so you can only imagine if we've had four thousand on a good bear year, it's gonna be, probably quadruple that on a bad, if not more," said wildlife officer Sarah Watson.
So remember, close your garage doors, secure your trash and check dumpsters before you open them.
