GHOST GRIZZLIES?

Colorado Hunters Report Seeing Grizzlies, Long Believed Extinct in State

By David Frey, 9-29-06

Grizzly bears have long been considered gone from the mountains of Colorado. Reports of suspected sightings in southern Colorado have sounded like Bigfoot sightings: fleeting glances, unusually large footprints, no evidence.

But state wildlife officials are taking seriously a recent reported grizzly sighting in the San Isabel National Forest near Independence Pass, which connects Aspen and Leadville.

Division of Wildlife officials say two hunters, both with experience with grizzlies and black bears, spotted a female grizzly and two cubs in a clearing about 80 yards away on Sept. 20. They watched them through binoculars and a spotting scope for about a minute until the bears moved on. They found no tracks or scat left behind.

A trio of DOW officers searched the site on foot on Sept. 23, but found no evidence. They’re planning to make another round.

The sighting is unusual, but DOW officials say they can’t rule out that what the hunters saw really were grizzlies. The last sighting in the state was on Sept. 23, 1979, when an outfitter on an archery elk hunt was attacked by a female grizzly in the San Juan National Forest. He survived. The grizzly was killed.

Then, as now, officials believed grizzlies were extinct in Colorado.

At least two books have studied the question of whether grizzlies remain in the Colorado wilds. In 1997, Rick Bass published “The Lost Grizzlies,” his account of exploring the mountains with grizzly experts Doug Peacock and Dennis Sizemore. On a solo climb, Bass believe he encountered a grizzly at 11,000 feet.

"I look for a tree to climb, my heart in my throat. That glimpse of the rolling humped back and the wild, wild eyes is all I get before the bear's flight takes it down to a wooded ravine and away," he wrote.

A compelling story, but like others, he came away with no evidence.

In “Ghost Grizzlies,” published in 1998, David Petersen writes of his own search. He sees big implications if grizzlies do still exist in Colorado. They may well turn out to be a distinct subspecies, he says, and if so, they “will instantly become the most endangered mammal in North America.”

The only sustainable grizzly populations in the Lower 48 are believed to be in Idaho, Montana and parts of Wyoming.

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