A small group of grizzly bears may live in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, a Utah man said.
Dennis Sizemore, a founder of the Salt Lake-based Round River Conservation Studies, said Tuesday he was part of a team of 15 volunteers who spent last summer searching for the bears, which generally are not found so far south.The team focused on the San Juan Mountains because a grizzly had been killed there in 1979, and there was a possible sighting in 1990.
Sizemore said the volunteers found bear droppings that contained hair the bears swallowed while grooming.
Analysis of 15 hair samples found two that resembled grizzly hair, according to the Wyoming Fish and Game Laboratory in Laramie.
Sizemore believes a small family group of grizzlies may live in the area.