The uneasy marriage between wildlife and bustling civilization proved fatal Thursday for a bear ruled out of second chances that was captured in north Boulder, tranquilized and then shot in the neck.

Also tranquilized were the sow’s two cubs, which like their mother — ID’d as bear No. 317 — previously had been tagged by Colorado Parks and Wildlife personnel. The tag marks a bear’s first strike; under Colorado wildlife policy, the second strike brings a death sentence.

It appears, however, that the cubs will be successfully relocated, likely well in advance of the upcoming hibernation period. Area Wildlife Manager Larry Rogstad said that veterinarians will evaluate the pair and determine on Friday an appropriate time and place for relocation.

Bear 317 and her cubs were reported Thursday evening through Boulder police dispatch to be at a home in the 2100 block of Iris Avenue. Wildlife responders found them near the rear of the property’s backyard, on the ground, not in a tree.

The fate of the sow, modestly sized at about 150 pounds and apparently at least 10 years old — officials originally had said she was closer to 230 pounds and 4 years old — clearly weighed on wildlife officers tasked with Thursday’s grim assignment.

“It sucks. It does,” said District Wildlife Manager Kristin Cannon, who was clearly emotional over the episode. “Especially with this community and with as much as they cared about these bears, and as much work as people were putting into trying to protect them.”

Cannon added, “But it’s just really hard for us to allow a large carnivore to be in the middle of a city for weeks at a time charging people. I’m torn between how irresponsible I feel it would be to leave her here, and how awful I feel it is to remove her.”

‘Substantial chance of making it’

The tranquilized sow was taken to a Parks and Wildlife facility north of Boulder where she was killed, by a single gunshot to the neck, around 8 p.m. Thursday.

Wildlife officials would have harvested the bear’s meat, but it was rendered unsafe for human consumption after the tranquilizing shot. Now, officials will have to decide what happens to the rest of her.

“We just finished pulling the hide off,” Rogstad said after the death was reported. “We’ll retain it if it can be used for educational purposes. Also the skull; if it can be used for education, we’ll donate it.”

If no donation opportunities present themselves, Colorado Parks and wildlife will send the hide and head to Hugo, on the plains of eastern Colorado, for a February auction put on by the Colorado Trappers Association — a self-described “leading promoter of trapping and fur-harvesting activities.”

Cannon said 317’s cubs appear to be in the 50-to-60 pound range and might be up to 10 months old. The doomed sow was “dry,” Rogstad said, indicating that the cubs already had been weaned.

“Bears like this have a substantial chance of making it on their own,” Rogstad said.

A growing problem

The trio was first spotted in mid-August, walking in north Boulder between 19th and Folsom streets.

Because of a Colorado Parks and Wildlife policy that calls for intervention only on rare occasions, officials at first monitored the visitors, but didn’t act. But over succeeding days, more calls about the bears came in.

Normally effective hazing techniques, like throwing small rocks or making loud noises, didn’t work for residents or wildlife officers.

Concern built among neighbors that the bears were getting a little too comfortable, and officials decided the mother and her cubs had used up strike one — of two.

On Aug. 26, wildlife officers saw the sow in a tree near 19th and Balsam Avenue, low enough for a clean shot. They tranquilized her and put her in a cage, and the cubs were taken away as well.

All three were marked with green ear tags — the cubs were tagged 315 and 316, and their mom was 317 — then hauled to the mountains of northwestern Boulder County.

Unfortunately, they returned to Boulder, and were next spotted in the Edgewood neighborhood Sept. 16.

Confrontations with the animals continued to mount, with one man reportedly being chased down a sidewalk and another charged from his porch. In the last week alone, Colorado Parks and Wildlife received reports from two different men who claim to have been chased by 317.

‘Let’s use this as the last killing’

As word spread that the sow had been marked for death, a swell of activists attempted to prevent lethal action.

One online petition gathered about 60,000 signatures.

Boulder’s Odile Fazioni also had begun circulating a local petition, with a series of recommended alternative actions. Among those suggestions: tracking tagged bears with GPS and creating a committee to make decisions on the fate of individual bears.

In this case, it’s too late for activism, but Fazioni said she hopes 317’s death will prompt a more “pro-active” response in similar situations going forward.

“That’s what we’ll be working on now that the bear was killed. Let’s use this as the last killing and become a better town in managing it,” she said.

Any alternatives will be tough sells, though, as state policy is very firmly entrenched.

“I totally appreciate the concern that all people have for these bears,” Rogstad said. “It’s the same concern that I share with them. However, Parks and Wildlife operates with the best science, best management practices based on science and a huge amount of experience.”

He’s fielded countless calls on this particular bear, some of which have come from folks who wanted to see 317 taken to a wildlife sanctuary. Colorado Parks and Wildlife actually has a sanctuary, but it’s reserved mainly for abused circus and zoo animals.

“If we were to establish a sanctuary to take animals from the wild, when do we make the determination they should leave the wild?” Rogstad said. “Who’s going to pay for it? Who’s going to operate it? It’s an extremely expensive process to handle an animal that may live for 20 or 25 years.

“And is it fair to the animal? This is an animal that’s free ranging and wild. As nice as a wildlife sanctuary is, by no means is it comparable to the forest.”

Charlie Brennan: brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan.

Alex Burness: burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burness.