A homeowner filmed the terrifying moment that a young black bear attacked a deer in the back garden of a suburban home in Colorado Springs. The video, which captures nature’s brutal reality succinctly, has gone viral online.
KOAA5 reports that the incident occurred on June 7, 2015, in the back yard of a home on Jupiter Drive near Jenkins Park in the Westside Skyway neighborhood of Colorado Springs.
A neighbor, identified as J.D. Gieck, captured the attack on camera.
According to Gieck, the neighborhood was alerted to the presence of a bear, and as the bear passed through back gardens, it dashed suddenly into a bush and pulled out a deer.
The homeowner and Gieck were in the garden and were apparently trying to retreat indoors when the bear pulled the deer out of the bush into the yard.
Gieck said, “I looked back over my shoulder to see him pulling the deer out and he brought him out into the yard.”
“To me, it was just like, ‘Alright, let’s get a picture of this one, see what it’s up to and watch it knock over a trash can or two.’ In no way, shape, or form did I expect this to happen. It’s probably one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.”
He began filming on his cell phone as the bear mauled the deer inside the back garden of the home.
The footage shows the bear climbing on the deer’s back and holding it down with its paws. The bear looked at the man filming the attack briefly before biting into the deer’s neck.
A voice cautioned, “Be careful. Don’t get too close, or he’ll attack you.”
As the cameraman retreated from the scene, still filming, the bear sank its teeth into the deer’s necks. The helpless animal screamed in pain and struggled to escape. But after a brief struggle it collapsed as the bear tightened its grip and began chewing on its neck.
According KOAA5, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Abbie Walls, said the deer was injured before the bear attacked it.
Gieck posted the video to his Facebook page, and it went viral with more than seven million views. The video was posted to YouTube on June 15, 2015, by YouTube user ViralHog . It has been viewed more than 500,000 times on YouTube (see video above).
Residents were startled by the incident. Bears are common in the area, but they are best known as scavengers who steal into back yards to rummage through garbage bins and not as aggressive predators.
According to Walls, “90 percent of a bear’s diet is plants and grass, but occasionally, they will eat meat.”
He pointed to the clumsiness of the bear as it attacked the deer as evidence that it had limited experience as a predator.
“This bear was actually doing what bears are supposed to do. It was taking out sick and injured wildlife, which is how Mother Nature works.”
But residents were worried that the bear could pose a threat to pets and young children in the neighborhood. But officials let the bear go and put down the fatally injured deer.
Walls said it was unlikely the bear would attack a human being or a household pet.
“Not to say that a bear wouldn’t or couldn’t go after a pet, but it’s very unlikely because they’re going to be harder to get after.”
[Image: Wikimedia Commons ]
