Bear without ‘any fear’ tries breaking into occupied homes, Utah officials say
A black bear was spotted roaming a Utah neighborhood in search of food, wildlife officials said.
The bear had lost its fear of people and became a danger to the public, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said in an emailed news release.
Residents reported that the bear had gotten into trash cans and a bird feeder at three homes in the Nordic Valley area the night of Thursday, June 5, officials said.
The department “set a trap to try to catch the bear” the next day, but the animal didn’t return to the area that night.
Then, the morning of Saturday, June 7, nine different residents reported that the bear was “roaming through a neighborhood in another part of Nordic Valley” north of where it had previously been spotted.
“The bear got into a trash can in this new area and then tried to enter three different homes through the doorway of the homes,” officials said. “It then went to a fourth home and stared through a window at the people inside. Despite people moving around inside and looking back at the bear through the window, the bear didn’t move and didn’t exhibit any fear. It was clear to us that the bear had lost its fear of people.”
One family saw the bear go from window to window and place a paw on the door handle, KSLTV reported.
“It was concerning,” Cheryl Rubink told the outlet. “It seemed like he knew what he was doing.”
Photos and video show the bear roaming near homes and peering into a window. Photos obtained by KSTU also show damage to a trash can and trash the bear got into.
The bear was a young female, possibly 2 years old, KSL and KSTU reported.
“It’s not something you see every day, but it happens,” Mark Hadley with the wildlife division told KSTU. “If there’s a mountainous area in the state of Utah, there’s a good chance that there’s a black bear somewhere in that area.”
The division’s policy required that officials “euthanize the bear to keep people safe,” officials said.
“The bear is still a wild animal,” Hadley told KSTU. “Once it starts to lose its fear of people, at that point, it can become very aggressive towards people.”
The loss of fear and aggression toward people makes the bear a public safety hazard, officials said. It doesn’t help that the animals will readily eat human food and will “wander long distances in search of food,” officials said.
Beyond the threat to human safety in the neighborhood, the bear also posed a threat to several camps for girls just north of the area, officials said.
“Home and cabin development and the increasing popularity of Utah’s backcountry have made it impossible to find a place we can release a problem bear and not have the bear come in contact again with people,” the department said. “Euthanizing wildlife is the worst part of our jobs. Our staff got into the wildlife profession because they love wildlife and want to help it and see it thrive. Euthanizing wildlife is not something they want to do.”
To prevent putting a bear “in this situation again,” the department shared the following reminders for people living in bear country:
“Don’t leave garbage cans outside. Keep your garbage cans in your garage or another enclosed area until the day your garbage is collected,” officials said. “Don’t leave garbage cans outside your house or on the street at night or for extended periods of time.”
Keep pet food and feed pets indoors, and clean grills thoroughly after every use if it’s not possible to bring them inside, officials said.
Nordic Valley is about a 60-mile drive north from Salt Lake City.
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Bear without ‘any fear’ tries breaking into occupied homes, Utah officials say."
