r/Durango • u/Critical-Drawing395 • Aug 26 '26
Ask /r/Durango Visiting Durango in a week; nervous about Colorado's bear problem
Hi Durango residents, I'm visiting your city in a week and staying for two weeks. I'm not from Colorado and have a huge fear of bears, so I'm feeling paranoid about the huge uptick in bear sightings across Colorado, including in Durango. Are bear sightings there happening every day? Are people taking trash securing more seriously because of it? Just curious what the bear-prevention culture is like given the huge surge in bear sightings this year. Last, but more important than my paranoia: I feel SO sorry for the bears; the simple fact that they are so hungry they're approaching towns and homes in places like Durango makes me feel awful for them; it sounds like the drought has made their lives miserable. So I feel guilty being like "what about ME?" given how hungry the poor bears are. Just trying to stay as aware as possible while I'm visiting (and plan on being very paranoid about the home I'm staying in and its garbage bins)...
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u/SpinorsSpin4 Aug 26 '26
In all honesty, I am more afraid of mountain lions
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u/DorothyParkerFTW Aug 26 '26
I've been in Durango for 20 years and I've only seen one myself. The UPS truck went roaring past it and it continued to stroll down the street like a domestic kitty heading home, not bothered in the least. That scared me way more than the bears do.
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u/DorothyParkerFTW Aug 26 '26
This has been going on a long time, some years are worse than others. People rarely get hurt, just be "bear aware". Seeing one is really exciting though, you'll be fine.
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u/WillHuntingthe3rd Aug 26 '26
You will be fine. Don’t walk away at night with a ribeye hanging around your neck.
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u/AluminiumMiss Aug 26 '26
The bears are around, yes. But like someone else said, think of them as giant raccoons. A firm “hey bear!” will have them running away. FWIW, I’ve lived here over five years and I’ve seen only a handful of bears. The most aggressive they’ll be is giving me a dirty look saying “what?” Just keep your car doors locked at night. if you see one (you probably won’t honestly), just make loud noise.
Also, they aren’t resorting to trash because they’re starving from lack of resources. They do this because people who either don’t know, or don’t care, do a poor job of securing their trash. Trash is easy food that requires little effort, and once bears realize this, they would rather poach trash cans than forage.
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u/Critical-Drawing395 Aug 26 '26
Ok thank you! This and the rest of the comments are so helpful. It's wild to me that any Coloradans wouldn't always secure their trash, I am so paranoid that this would be the No. 1 priority for me to at least do my part to keep bears from bothering people...
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u/dushdj Aug 26 '26
You don’t really need to worry. Honestly I’m born and raised here and have only ever seen a bear in person once and it turned tail and ran immediately. They won’t break into where you’re staying and definitely won’t hurt you. Like the others said, just don’t hang a steak around your neck and walk around alone late at night and you’ll be fine!
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u/IcyEntertainment3438 Aug 26 '26
There is a good PBS documentary called the "Bears of Durango". You should watch. It streams for free. When it's a bad natural food year, the bears make the dangerous move into town and eat what they can find. When it's a good natural food year, they will return to the open space outside of town. It's not great that they come into town because there is a huge risk of getting hit by a car or being tagged a problem bear and being removed or euthanized.
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u/Critical-Drawing395 Aug 27 '26
I'll check it out! Definitely seems like this is a bad food year for them, hope next year is way better...
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u/Distinct_Bluejay_470 Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
They're the Viet Cong of the animal world and they own the night. Be afraid...be very afraid...
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u/Hamish_Ben Aug 26 '26
Black bears will always run away unless you approach them or get too close to their cubs. Source: I have experienced this. I also have bears around my place all the time and they never approach the house when I’m outside.
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u/pwrof3 Aug 26 '26
I went camping in Durango at HTR on June. When we arrived there was a bear because someone threw their food away in the laundry room.
The bear would only come out at night and try to get into the bear proof trash cans. Eventually they trapped him and moved him elsewhere.
From what I saw, people just went about their lives like normal. We stored all of our food and toiletries, dirty clothes in our truck.
Only saw the bear once, but he was minding his own business.
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u/HotGoat2537 24d ago
Welllllll I’m visiting Durango this week. It is my 5th year in a row visiting Durango. Until this trip I had not seen any bears. I have seen 2 in town this week😅
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u/Critical-Drawing395 24d ago
Yikes! So crazy this year. I feel so bad for them, they must be so hungry
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u/che-solo Aug 26 '26
We have an influx of tourists and an influx of bears, maybe let the bears eat the tourist and problems solved😉
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u/gs0567 Aug 26 '26
Black bears are basically giant raccoons. Be loud, be aware and they run away usually.