A woman in her 80s is recovering after a bear broke into her home in and attacked her.
According to information from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who are investigating the incident, the bear broke into the woman’s home in Estes Park, Colorado, via a closed but unlocked first floor window, at around 4.30am on August 27.
The homeowner woke up to discover the animal in her kitchen on the second floor.
She told officials the bear charged her, ‘scratched her across the stomach and knocked her to the ground’ before leaving through the same window it entered through.
The woman, who received hospital treatment for abdominal injuries, called 911 to report the attack, although no bear was found when the Larimer County Sheriff’s office responded to the call.
Local authorities are seeking help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service to locate the animal.
‘We have not located the bear involved yet,’ CPS public information officer Kara Van Hoose told the local publication Estes Park Trail Gazette.
‘In accordance with CPW policy, bears responsible for attacks on humans represent a public safety threat due to dangerous behavior. They are lethally removed.’
The attack is the latest in a string of incidents across the area, with multiple reports of bears breaking into houses and vehicles, with traps being set to minimise the risk to the public.
‘As we continue to navigate this extraordinary bear year, please continue to be vigilant in removing food and trash that may attract bears to your property,’ said CPW Area Wildlife Manager Jason Deutsch.
‘Wildlife officers are working tirelessly to respond to an unprecedented number of bear reports, and we are counting on the community to help mitigate conflict.’
They advise that locals should keep trash securely covered at all times, lock doors, windows and cars, take down bird feeders until Thanksgiving and never leave food out for bears, in a bid to keep them at bay.
Colorado is experiencing an unprecedented bear conflict year, with the department reporting that sightings of bears have doubled in the past year.
Earlier this month they confirmed they have received 6,129 reports of bear sightings since January 1 of this year, compared to 3,115 sightings in the same time period in 2025.
They have said this is largely due to the creatures’ natural food shortages being depleted in the wake of drought in the state.
This can lead them to take greater risks to secure food as they enter hyperphagia — a natural phase which occurs between late summer and early autumn as they build the fat reserves needed to survive winter hibernation.
The CPW explains that at this time they can spend up to 20 hours a day searching for food, and this year has been particularly challenging as many of the animals’ natural food sources — such as berries, nuts, grasses and plants — have been depleted by low mountain snowpack, wildfires and drought.
The US is not the only place which has seen bear attacks of late. Earlier this month a woman in Russia was dragged from her tent and mauled to death by a bear while on a romantic camping getaway with her partner.
(Picture: social media /east2west news)
Snezhana Korolyova, 29, had been staying in the Altai Mountains with her partner, who has not been named, when the animal tore apart their tent at 1am and ‘hauled the screaming woman away’, before trying to bury her in the forest.
Police and local gamekeepers shot into the air rather than at the bear, according to witnesses, due to Russian rules about not shooting bullets in populated areas.
Reports claim that the pair got engaged just a day before she was killed.