The Weekend Bear is gone

The Crags is one of the most popular camping and hiking areas in the region. It's also in a part of the Pike National Forest known to be home to black bears. But there were few bear-human problems there - until recently.

Officials closed the campground and set up bear traps to catch a marauding bear, but it just moved along the creek. Reports are it attacked at least two people and then, over the weekend, bit a camper. Here's an account from a camper, posted to a local blog, http://nonprophet.typepad.com/nonprophet/

Here's the scoop from Michael Seraphin at the Colorado Division of Wildlife: The agency called this bear the "Weekend Bear," for his modus operandi - every Saturday for the past three weekends, the bear attacked a camper in a sleeping bag. The bear, it seems, had learned to associate food with tents and sleeping bags. The first attack was minor, and the DOW only heard about it unofficially. The second attack was reported by the victim, a man in a sleeping bag in the same campsite as the first one.

This past Saturday the campground was closed, but campers set up along the road that leads to the area. A boy was in his sleeping bag outside a tent (during daylight, according to the local camper noted above, Nonprophet) and the bear tugged at it. When the boy woke up, the bear swatted his head. Family members screamed and the bear ran to the campground and into a trap the DOW had set up at the animal's favorite campsite.

The boy was treated and is not seriously injured. The Weekend Bear was captured and killed.