JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A dog had a close encounter with a black bear early Monday morning — and it was all captured on a Jefferson County home's security camera.
Around 4:15 a.m. Monday, a man who asked only to be identified as Stuart opened his front door to his home, which is around Parmalee Gulch Road off of US 285. His dog Moxie burst past him and ran down the flight of stairs that led to the home's driveway.
Stuart said in the darkness, Moxie went right up behind the bear, which turned and chased her back up the stairs.
Luckily, he had a light that, powered by 10,000 lumens, helped to distract the bear near the top of the stairs.
The bear ran back down the stairs around the same time as a smaller bear, likely her cub, ran out from behind a car and quickly climbed a nearby tree. Stuart was able to call Moxie back inside.
Watch the full video below.
"My dog likes to disco dance with the devil," Stuart said in an email to Denver7.
Neither animal was injured.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says that black bears, which can also be brown like the one seen in this video, are often wary of people. While they will normally run away from perceived danger, a mother bear will attack to protect her cub. Cubs stay with their mother for their first year and typically separate around their second autumn.
They often travel at night to avoid people, CPW said. Bears are most active in Colorado from mid-March until early November.
About 17,000 to 20,000 black bears live in Colorado.
