ASPEN, Colo. -- An employee at Sundeck, the iconic restaurant atop Aspen Mountain shot a black bear Saturday morning after the bruin made its way inside the establishment, authorities say.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said its officers responded and found the wounded bear alive and under a deck before euthanizing it.
“We had received reports that the bear had been in the area and it had charged one of the employees in the previous days,” Mike Porras, spokesman for CPW’s northwest region, said Tuesday. “Our officers are investigating the incident.”
Porras said the encounter at the Sundeck restaurant happened about 7 a.m. Saturday and that the employee who shot the bear used both a shotgun and a .357 Magnum revolver.
“At this point I don’t have any information that there was anything illegal,” Porras said of the use of force. He explained that the firearm discharge is not under CPW’s review and would fall to local authorities.
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