5/14/18 @ 10:00 am

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers killed a bear overnight, believed to have been the bear responsible for injuring a young girl in an early Sunday morning attack in East Orchard Mesa.

CPW officers will transport the bear's carcass to the agency's Wildlife Health Laboratory in Fort Collins for a full necropsy.

Based on the description of the bear and its behavior, wildlife officers are confident the dead bear is the same bear involved in the attack on the girl.

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife is investigating a bear attack on a child in East Orchard Mesa, above the Colorado River corridor, in Grand Junction over the weekend.

As of last night, Colorado Parks and Wildlife had not located the bear involved in this incident.  CPW officers have set three bear traps in the area and will actively monitor the traps for the next several days.

If captured, the bear will be destroyed and the carcass will be sent to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Health Laboratory in Fort Collins.

The victim's mother told CPW officers she heard screaming at approximately 2:30 a.m., Sunday morning. When she went outside to investigate, she witnessed a large black bear dragging her five-year-old daughter. She told CPW officers the bear dropped the girl after she began screaming at the animal. According to the woman, the girl had gone outside to investigate noises in the yard she may have thought was her dog.

The victim is at St. Mary's hospital with serious injuries.

Residents are asked to secure trash, keep pet food inside and immediately report any bear sightings in this neighborhood, or any residential area.

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