GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – A 5-year-old girl suffered serious injuries after she was attacked by a bear overnight in east Orchard Mesa.
The girl, Kimberly Cyr, had gone outside around 2:30 a.m. early Sunday to investigate noises she thought were being made by her dog, the girl’s mother told Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers.
But the girl’s mother heard her daughter screaming and went outside to see a “large black bear” dragging her daughter, CPW officials said. The bear dropped the girl after her mother screamed at it. Their home is in the east Orchard Mesa area, above the Colorado River corridor, officials said.
Cyr was transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction with serious injuries, CPW said. Radio traffic from first responders said she had been bitten on her back and near her head.
Officers were tracking the bear, along with federal wildlife officials, on Sunday morning. CPW said area residents could expect to see law enforcement officials and hounds in the area, and ask anyone to report bear sightings to officials.
A hospital official told The Associated Press Sunday afternoon Cyr had been upgraded to fair condition. The girl needed more than six dozen stitches, doctors said.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, the bear had not been located, CPW said. Officers set up three bear traps in the area and plan to monitor them for the next several days.
CPW says if the bear is captured, it will be killed and its carcass sent to CPW's Wildlife Health Laboratory in Fort Collins.