Further details released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife over a bear attack that occurred in New Castle on early Wednesday morning reveal the victim suffered severe lacerations to her arm and additional scratches to her back.

A Wednesday evening CPW news release states that the New Castle woman was taken to an area hospital with severe injuries.

The New Castle Police Department was first called to the report of the bear attack at a residence in the Castle Valley Ranch neighborhood shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday.

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New Castle Town Administrator David Reynolds confirmed the woman was taking her dog out in her backyard, which is fenced.

The CPW news release also states it was during this time the woman noticed a lid to a hot tub was partially removed and went to go put it back on.

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“While fixing the lid she noticed a bear coming out of a tree and charging at her,” the release states. “The bear, later determined to be the sow, swiped at the woman, hitting and severely lacerating her arm.”

“The victim was able to get away from the bear and inside her home, where she called 911.”

When New Castle Police arrived on scene, they reported a total of four bears — a sow and three cubs — still in close proximity to the home and notified CPW, the release states. CPW instructed a responding police officer to shoot and kill the sow. New Castle police were able to track down and kill the sow in a tree near Riverside Middle School.

The CPW could not determine whether the sow or one of the cubs had attacked the woman when they arrived on scene around 3 a.m., the release states. 

“The decision was made to euthanize (two of) the bears. One cub was euthanized,” the release states. “Given the location of the two other cubs in the tree, along with the close proximity of a busy road and several homes, CPW made the decision to wait on euthanizing the other two cubs.”

During the ensuing investigation CPW determined the sow was the only bear involved in the attack. Since the two remaining cubs were not directly involved in the attack, CPW made the decision to send the two cubs to a rehabilitation facility.

The cubs were tranquilized and safely removed while the deceased sow and cub’s remains are being sent to CPW’s Wildlife Health Lab for necropsy, the release states.

“The sow and her three cubs had been sighted in the area previous to the attack but did not show any aggression towards humans or other behaviors prompting a need to relocate the animals,” the release states.

Recently, bears have been frequenting urban areas in Garfield County due to a lack of food in higher elevations, the CPW reported.

“As always, we advise people not to leave their trash cans out,” Reynolds said on Wednesday morning. “In this particular case, there were trash cans out the night before.”