{"id":2451152,"date":"2019-11-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=316091"},"modified":"2019-11-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T07:00:00","slug":"snowmass-police-continue-to-look-for-person-who-left-food-that-led-to-bear-cub-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/snowmass-police-continue-to-look-for-person-who-left-food-that-led-to-bear-cub-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmass police continue to look for person who left food that led to bear cub death"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Snowmass Police are continuing their investigation into where boxes of undelivered packaged snacks a family of black bears got into last weekend on the Village Mall\u2014 which ultimately led to the death of a cub \u2014 came from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bear\u2019s death is not anyone\u2019s fault. \u2026 Our department takes responsibility,\u201d Snowmass Police Chief Brian Olson emphasized Thursday. \u201cBut the food that was left out contributed, and we feel having a conversation about how to prevent it happening again in the future is what\u2019s most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 10 p.m. Nov. 8, police received a report that a bear and her two cubs were feeding on three boxes of packaged snacks left on a dollie near a Village Mall stairwell, as previously reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

The officer who responded struck the mother on the backside with less-than-lethal beanbag ammunition deployed from a shotgun in an attempt to haze the bears from the area, Olson said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

When the officer attempted to do the same to one of the cubs, it reportedly moved and the beanbag hit and penetrated its stomach area, causing a serious wound. Snowmass police had to track the cub and safely put it down.<\/p>\n

Since the incident, Olson said police have attempted to find out where the boxes of snacks were headed and who was responsible for failing to deliver them.<\/p>\n

Leaving the food outside wasn\u2019t really a crime, Olson said Thursday. But according to the town\u2019s Wildlife Protection Ordinance<\/a>, which is in effect from April 15 to Nov. 15 every year, Snowmass police and animal control officers have the power to issue warning notices and penalties to people who do not store or dispose of food in a wildlife resistant container or enclosure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel strongly about writing the person (a ticket), but reserve the right to make that decision when we get there,\u201d Olson said. \u201cWe care more about talking with the person about their mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snowmass police confiscated the dollie left on the mall Nov. 8 and hope someone will come forward to claim it, Olson said. Officers have talked with several mall businesses in the area, who claimed the delivery wasn\u2019t theirs, and are looking for video surveillance footage that may have captured the incident.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday afternoon, Olson said police believe the food may have been headed for a mall vending machine.<\/p>\n

The officer who accidentally injured the bear cub was not placed on administrative leave, Olson said, the officer is on their regular schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe officer did nothing wrong, the circumstances changed and it ended in disaster,\u201d Olson said. \u201cOne second something can seem like a good option and the next second it changes. \u2026 The officer feels terrible and is devastated, but we will learn from this situation as a department.\u201d<\/p>\n

mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snowmass Police are continuing their investigation into where boxes of undelivered packaged snacks a family of black bears got into last weekend on the Village Mall\u2014 which ultimately led to the death of a cub \u2014 came from. \u201cThe bear\u2019s death is not anyone\u2019s fault. \u2026 Our department takes responsibility,\u201d Snowmass Police Chief Brian Olson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 06:22:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}