Photo: Robert Harding Picture Libr. Ltd / Collection Mix: Subjects / Getty Images
A Colorado man was injured after he was attacked by a bear in his own home. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said that a black bear and her three cubs managed to open a partially cracked sliding glass door and enter the 74-year-old man's house.
When the man heard the noise, he discovered the bears wandering around his home. He grabbed a chair from his kitchen and tried to shoo them out of his house.
The mother bear then charged at the man and knocked him into a wall. The bear stood over him for a few seconds before it started slashing him with its claws.
The man was able to escape from the bear and locked himself in a bedroom with other members of his family until the police arrived.
A responding Hinsdale County Sheriff's Deputy was able to get the bears to leave, allowing paramedics to treat the man, who suffered wounds to the head, neck, both arms, lower abdomen, shoulder, and calf. He was treated at the scene but was not taken to the hospital.
"It's certainly lucky we didn't have a fatality because it was close," said CPW wildlife officer Lucas Martin.
Authorities said the four bears were tracked down and euthanized.
"It's a terrible set of circumstances that, unfortunately, our district wildlife managers are routinely faced with," Parks and Wildlife Area Wildlife Manager Brandon Diamond said in a statement. "Clearly, these bears were highly habituated and were willing to enter an occupied house with the residents sitting just feet away. When a bear reaches this level of human habituation, clearly a lot of interaction with people has already happened."