Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks!
Today’s episode takes us to Waugh Mountain just north of Cotopaxi, Colorado around 80
miles south of Denver.
This particular part of the Pike and San Isabel National Forest displays steep and rugged
mountains covered in pine and fir trees predominantly.
There are pockets of willow, aspen and various berry bushes wherever water is present.
The mountains are packed with deer and elk but authorities are uncertain about just how
many black bears live in the state of Colorado.
Colin McClelland was from a very outdoorsy family.
His father was a licensed outfitter in Colorado for 13 years and Colin was a lumberjack and
camped on Waugh Mountain because he harvested timber from nearby timber stands.
Colin had been working out of this area for several years and had had a rash of bear problems
for the last three.
He called the Colorado Division of Wildlife last year when a bear broke into his camper
and consumed all of his food.
Lately, he had been having bears show up around his RV at night and scratch and sniff around
his camp.
Colin was smart enough to know not to leave anything that might attract a bear outside,
but his camper was full of his own food as well, so he thought that is what must bring
them back.
Colin didn’t know this but four nuisance black bears were sedated, ear tagged then
relocated to Waugh Mountain since 1988.
Now authorities know that one was run over and killed in the road, hunters killed 2 during
hunting season, but one bear simply disappeared.
This is the ideal situation for the wildlife management authorities.
They don’t exactly like killing bears, even nuisance bears, as it is better to give them
a second chance in a more remote area and allow nature to take its course.
Any new entrant into prime bear territory will have to fit in with the established bear
pecking order and may die if it doesn’t do that soon after being released.
Colin hadn’t been feeling well the last few days and was taking some pretty strong
flu medicine to help him recover.
Harvesting lodgepole pines was tiring work and being sick while doing it made it even
more tiring.
On top of that, Colin had had several run-ins with local black bears.
It was fairly normal for him to hear them sniffing around at night, but they had become
more aggressive and more frequent in their visits.
It almost seemed like they accepted him as part of their surroundings and now they were
just going to treat him like they do every other animal.
The respect boundaries would definitely have to be re-established, but first he would need
to recover from this flu.
On Friday, August 13th, 1993, Colin prepared dinner over the stove in his camper, he thought
about how he would have to climb back on top of the RV and sleep up there again.
He had to do it the last several nights due to all of the bear activity at night and he
didn’t feel safe inside of it.
His friends had recently loaned him a rifle big enough to handle any bears that might
give him problems, but he was sure they would move one once they figured out that he wasn’t
going to feed them, or bother them.
He just wanted to be left alone to do his work.
After eating dinner, Colin felt too sick to try the climb to the roof so he decided to
take the flu medicine and sleep inside the RV.
He loaded up a decent dose of flu medicine and promptly crawled into bed.
Hopefully this would be the last night that he would be sick and losing work.
As Colin drifted off to sleep, the aroma from the dinner he cooked wafted gently up the
valley, through the trees, and into the noses of bears in the area.
A 240 pound boar black bear had had a particularly hard summer and hadn’t been able to put
on the weight he would need to hibernate soon, nor the mass he would need to battle larger
males to court sows for breeding.
He had wandered through Colins camp before looking for something easy to eat and admiring
the delicious aromas emanating from that giant metal box.
As the boar approached, it sniffed around the perimeter of the RV and there wasn’t
any area where the scent of food was particularly strong.
That is, until he sniffed the air coming from the crack in the door.
The bear wasn’t hesitant about getting at that food and immediately set his claws in
the crack of the door and began prying at it.
The noise of the bear prying at the door brought the medically induced slumber of Colins to
a terrifying end.
He sat up in bed and watched the door bend as the bear pulled and wrenched at the bottom.
He quickly grabbed the rifle his friends loaned him and fired a shot through the door at where
he thought the bear would be.
This did not slow the bear down as it continued to pull at the door.
The locking mechanism finally failed due to the power of the bear and the door flew open.
The bear didn’t pause to sniff around at what made the aroma in the air.
It didn’t lick any bowls or plates, nor did it raid the fridge for a snack.
The hungry boar immediately attacked Colin while he was still near his bed.
The fight was not a long one.
The bear immediately crushed Colins skull and took his life.
Authorities say it could have been related to food, but probably also had a factor of
exerting dominance over Colin.
The bear consumed part of Colin while in the RV and then went and bedded down to sleep
off his feast.
It then returned and fed again on Colins remains.
The third time the bear returned to Colins RV he dragged the young man’s remains about
thirty yards from the entrance.
A few days later, Colin’s friends showed up to check on him and see if he was feeling
better.
They were saddened to see his remains as they approached his RV.
They immediately contacted authorities to report the passing of their friend.
Wildlife management officers set a live catch trap near Colins trailer and immediately killed
the bear that was caught.
This bear was a very healthy 240 boar black bear and had been shot on its side.
The bullet wound was about the same height as the bullet hole through the RV door.
Its blood was tested for a protein present after eating human flesh, and the protein
was not present.
Nothing was in the bear digestive tract except the bait that was used in the trap.
Authorities are not sure if they have the bear who killed Colin or not.
The only other bear tracks around his RV were from a smaller sow.
After performing a necropsy on the carcass authorities would call this bear “in fantastic
shape” and “rolly polly” and even “chunky” as well as “way better than average” when
commenting about the health and fitness of the bear.
Authorities urge calm and say that if you see a bear with a tag in it’s ear and are
planning on calling the authorities to deal with it, they will kill that bear.
The tag in its ear is placed the first time they have a nuisance call about the bear.
There is a two strike rule they use when it comes to nuisance bears.
Division of Wildlife office Rob Valarde says that “people are becoming more tolerant”
when speaking of the bears in the area.
Al McClelland, Colins father, says, “I can’t get my son back — that’s a done deal,
But this business of killing bears is not any different than killing Indians and that’s
how we won the West…it’s just a continuation of that line of thought.”
“I don’t believe the answer is killing bears,” McClelland says.
“I think the answer is limiting development.”
He suggests a moratorium on subdivisions and building permits until an environmental impact
statement can determine how these stressors affect wildlife such as bears.
The last recorded bear fatality in Colorado prior to this, was in 1971.
In 1992 Colorado voters voted to ban hunting bears over bait, with hounds and in spring
or summer seasons.
This leaves only the fall for hunters to harvest bears.
Colorado wildlife management authorities are currently evaluating a zone based plan to
balance black bear populations across the state.
Thank you for enjoying Scary Bear Attacks and before you go I just wanted to tell you
about a few amazing products at our merch store.
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Its affordable and makes camping while taking our playlist along a breeze.
Thanks again and be safe, especially in bear country.