Colorado Parks & Wildlife Urges Everyone To Be 'Bear Aware'

DENVER (CBS4)- Colorado Parks and Wildlife is asking everyone to help keep bears safe as they try to bulk up before hibernation. Bears this time of year are seeking food for about 20 hours a day before they take a big nap.

That means people need to secure trash cans, close garage doors and take down bird feeders.

"Having that awareness so you can maybe correct some actions to keep our bears safe is important," said Jason Clay with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Between April 1 and Aug. 1 CPW received more than 3,600 bear reports. That's actually down a bit from the same time last year, but wildlife officials expect activity to really ramp up.