Beaver Creek beleaguered by bruins

Posh, gated Beaver Creek resort is this summer’s culinary hot spot for the ursine set, at least according to one wildlife officer quoted in the Vail Daily newspaper saying, “The bears go where the trash is, and the trash is in Beaver Creek.”

Last week a 300-pound black bear that had broken into at least five multi-million-dollar homes so far this summer was tracked down and killed as a problem bear by wildlife officers who are compelled by state law to put down repeat offenders.

But, as one commentator on the paper’s Web site pointed out, “The problem is not the bears, it’s the people” who leave too much tempting trash out in unsecured receptacles and also leave doors and windows wide open during the summer.

Resort officials promised to clamp down and said more bear-resistant trash containers were on order for the Beaver Creek Village core area, where security officers have had to repeatedly pepper-spray a number of bears this spring and summer.

In early July, a mother and two cubs were captured and relocated 70 miles down Interstate 70 near the town of Silt, but resort officials said those bears have already returned. Apparently they prefer a slightly higher-class diet.

is an award-winning reporter who has covered energy, environmental and political issues for years. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Denver Post. He's founder of Real Vail and Real Aspen.

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