Bear-aware time

Bicyclists pause for a young bear along the Animas River Trail on Thursday evening. The first bear reported out of the den this year was in April, said Bryan Peterson, who founded Bear Smart Durango in 2003 to educate residents about coexisting with black bears. Bear sightings and reports of bears getting into trash totaled 1,545 in 2012, with trash-can invasions accounting for 916 of the incidents. The number of incidents was greatest since he started keeping statistics in 2007. Last year was a record year for bear deaths other than by hunting when 82 bears were killed by vehicles, landowners, electrocution or wildlife officers putting down nuisance animals.