Bear Spotted Wandering Mountain Town In January
TELLURIDE, Colo. (CBS4)- Bears are frequent visitors to Colorado's towns, both in the mountains and along the Front Range.
But you don't usually seem the animals in January. Now a surveillance camera has recorded a bear in Mountain Village, a community near Telluride.
Animal officers have told the residents not to give the bear any food and to make sure to hide their trash and bird feeders.
Typically, bears start their hibernation in late October or early November. Before they hibernate, they'll consumer 20,000 calories a day to pack on the pounds to carry them through the five or so months of sleep.
Some animal experts describe what happens to bears in winter as denning rather than true hibernation because the animal's metabolic rate does not drop as low as true hibernators do.
That means bears can easily awaken during their denning period, especially when there are extended periods of warm weather.
When they do wake up, they are hungry and go in search of food.
Raetta Holdman is a veteran newscast producer. She's been with CBS4 for more than 25 years, coordinating events -- large and small -- from the control room. Contact her by clicking here.