Authorities in Boulder County say bear break-in not related to man found injured, unconscious

Colorado Parks and Wildlife says a bear broke into a home while a man was injured and unconscious, but that the bear did not cause his injuries.

The Boulder County Sheriff's Office reported that they received a call around 12:40 p.m. when the man was found with serious injuries inside his home. The person who reported the incident said the injured man appeared to have been injured in an animal attack, which they believed was caused by a bear.

The man was flown to an area hospital to receive advanced medical treatment, where he remains, the BCSO said.

CPW responded to the scene to investigate and determined that the bear broke into the man's home as he lay there unconscious, but didn't have any contact with him. They added that his injuries are "consistent with previous medical conditions that he was dealing with."

The bear also reportedly broke into a vehicle right outside of the home, according to CPW.

Because the bear broke into a home, CPW said it has demonstrated that it no longer fears humans. As a result, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will bring out scent hounds to track the bear so it can be lethally removed.

Mark Zen, who has a camper in the area, said there has been an increase in bear encounters in the area over previous years. He explained that there are at least three active bears in the area that they know of.

"Last week we had an incident just below my camper where there's a stack of old wood from a long time ago. Anyways, the bear was jumping up and down on it trying to hunt whatever's underneath it. That's the first time I've ever seen that type of predator behavior out of them," said Zen.

CPW Spokesperson Kara Van Hoose confirmed that there have been multiple bear break-ins in the area.

"We've had many reported at these campsites, down the road, at other campsites as well. It's just been an extraordinarily heavy bear year with bear activity," explained Van Hoose. "So, this past weekend we had two bears break into cabins, occupied cabins, and we lethally removed one of those bears, and then we were not successful in finding the second one. That was only down the road here."