Charging bear tumbles down stairs after being shot inside Colorado home, officials say

When Ken Mauldin heard his wife scream in their Steamboat Springs home, he rushed out of their bedroom — and met up with a 400-pound bear, Colorado officials told news outlets.

“I saw the bear about 10 feet away and shot it instantly,” Mauldin, who had a pistol, told Steamboat Radio. “Then the bear charged me. I continued shooting at it as fast as I could,”

Mauldin estimates the bear got to within five or six feet of him.

“He backed up, changed directions, and crashed through the banister railing onto the stairs, where he collapsed at the bottom of the stairs,” Mauldin told Steamboat Radio.

The bear died in the incident at 2 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, Colorado wildlife officials told the Associated Press. Mauldin faces no charges because he shot the bear in self-defense.

“They’ve been dealing with bears getting into homes all summer long,” said Rachel Gonzales, spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the AP reported. “It’s not impossible that this bear learned the behavior from another bear.”

The bear entered the home through an unlocked door with a lever handle in search of dog food, Gonzales told KCNC.

Mauldin’s wife discovered the bear when she went to check on barking dogs and screamed for her husband, the station reported. That’s when he encountered the bear.

“Any time bears are awake, they’re going to search for the easiest food to get to,” Gonzales told KCNC. “Maybe our trash is out, maybe we’ve got food in a garage that a bear can just walk into. That’s going to attract them to it because it’s easy.”

Steamboat Springs is a city of 13,500 people located about 150 miles northwest of Denver. It’s home to several ski resorts.

This story was originally published August 16, 2022 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Charging bear tumbles down stairs after being shot inside Colorado home, officials say."