A 39-year-old Colorado woman was killed in an apparent bear attack while walking her two dogs, authorities said Saturday.
Her boyfriend told officials he returned home around 8:30 p.m. MT Friday, according to state parks officials. He discovered the dogs outside the residence near Trimble, Colorado, but the woman was missing.
He found her body an hour later and called 911, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a statement.
Wildlife officers said they found “signs of consumption on the body and an abundance of bear scat and hair at the scene.”
A dog team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services subsequently found a female black bear with two yearlings nearby.
The bears were euthanized. The mother bear’s teeth indicate she was bout 10-years-old, parks officials said.
“Bear attacks are extremely rare,” Cory Chick, southwest region manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said in the statement. “This is a tragic event and a sad reminder that bears are wild and potentially dangerous.”
The woman’s name was expected to be released by a local coroner, who is expected to perform an autopsy early next week.
Josh Cradduck and Austin Mullen contributed.