An ever increasing human population getting into more and more conflicts with Black Bears prompted Colorado Parks and Wildlife to begin studying the habits of the state's bears 6 years ago......Bears are declining in Colorado as their habitat is infringed upon............Key findings include---the remaining decreased bear population are adapting to urban expansion,,,,,,,,,Bears who eat garbage do not become addicted,,,,,,,,,,,,,,They utilize human food when natural foodstuffs are hard to come by, but gravitate to natural berries and acorns whenever they are available.............Warming temperatures have bears hibernating less and up and around people more..............And as most readers of this blog are so aware---"“There’s shrinking safe space for these wild bears to be in Colorado as well as across North America"..............It is noteworthy that the Colorado Wildlife folks estimate that there are 17,000 bearsin the state based on collection of hair-snag samples and extrapolations"............ "And in the same breath, they’ve said the estimate isn’t reliable and don’t really know whether the bear population is increasing or decreasing".............."So why then has Colorado allowed increased hunting, issuing 17,000 bear-hunting licenses in 2014, up from 10,000 in 1997?"

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/02/colorado-black-bear-management/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTY3NjQ0OTE1NjI2MTYxODQzNTQyGjAzMWJmZmM1MjYxMzc1ZGE6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNFE-X3qdWHndOOP34QdC1H_BHg1Gg

A 6-year study of Colorado bears is

 upending assumptions about their

 encounters with humans

Researchers began their study in response to rising numbers

 of human-bear conflicts and the changing climate

April 2, 2017 

DURANGO – Curled up in a den on an

 acorn-rich hillside, a hibernating bear

 and her three fuzzy cubs face 

increasingly perilous conditions.

People in homes 200 yards below 

constantly tempt them with food — 

this 180-pound sow knows well

 how to navigate garbage-scented

 urban smorgasbords in late summe

 if acorns and berries vanish. But 

state policy requires extermination 

of bears repeatedly caught eating

 garbage. Record numbers are dying.

 And the dozing bears also feel 

warmer temperatures near their rocky

 den that shorten hibernation.

Now, near the top of the hill, a Colorado

 Parks and Wildlife research team with

 a tranquilizer dart on a 6-foot jab pole

 is creeping toward them.

This den visit is one of the last in a 

six-year study of black bears in 

Colorado that challenges core 

assumptions state wildlife managers

 have relied on for decades. Rising 

conflicts with people motivated the 

CPW study, which will be published 

this year. Seldom have scientists

 tracked and monitored so many

 bears so closely, even analyzing 

fur to verify what bears ate.