COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers had to euthanize an injured bear after it fell several feet down Seven Falls, a series of cascading waterfalls in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Sunday.
The 250-pound bear, estimated to be around 3 to 4 years old, was struggling and unable to move its back legs after it initially fell. It then plunged another 40 feet down the waterfall.
CPW officers called in Broadmoor Fire Protection District firefighters and the El Paso Search and Rescue team to help. They hustled up 120 steep stairs to an overlook, where they carefully scaled steep and slippery canyon walls, crossed a falls and reached the bear.
Part of the El Paso County Search and Rescue team went higher on the stairs to create a pulley system they used to pull the remains across the water and then up and over the railing of the stairways.
After recovering the bear, the El Paso County Search and Rescue team lowered it to the ground 12 stories below.