A small bear cub was discovered Monday morning inside the cafeteria of a middle school in Aspen, Colorado.
The Aspen Times reports that the bear was secured inside the lunchroom of Aspen Middle School, and no students or staff were reported in danger.
“Sometime Monday morning, a small black bear cub found its way into Aspen School District Middle School and ended up sniffing its way into the school’s cafeteria," a Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post said.
Pitkin County Chief Deputy of Operations Parker Lathrop said students were taken to the Aspen High School gym during the bear’s removal. Authorities suspect that a door at the school could’ve been left unlocked after Friday’s Aspen High School football game; the middle school is used for visitor restrooms and team locker rooms.
Upon the bear’s discovery, all students were sent to other buildings on campus while the Aspen Police Department, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the sheriff’s office helped remove the cub from the school.
“We were made aware of (the bear) shortly before 7 a.m. and then by 9:30 students were back in the middle school,” Lathrop said.
Personnel from Colorado Parks and Wildlife arrived, sedated and removed the cub, a district spokesperson said.
The cub is female and about 8 months old.
“It’s a female and in really good health,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Rachel Gonzales said. “So because of that, we have relocated the cub to a much more appropriate bear habitat … Our goal is to take them someplace where they have less of a risk of (human-bear conflicts) and a higher risk of surviving.”
According to Gonzales, bears typically try to consume up to 20,000 calories a day before hibernation, are then more likely to scavenge for food through dumpsters and buildings.
