Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers have been busy after relocating their second bear in about a week from El Paso County on Tuesday, as drought continues to push bears into neighborhoods for food.

A Falcon couple discovered the unexpected guest in their home on Tuesday morning after a 250-pound black bear fell asleep in their window well.

Kristen Nedbalek and her boyfriend told The Gazette several of their neighbors stopped by to watch the bear behind the window before it was lifted through the home by three Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers and two others.

Wildlife in the Meridian Ranch area of unincorporated El Paso County usually is limited to birds, rabbits and cats, not large mammals, the couple said. The rarity prompted Nedbalek to sit near the slumbering bear for a while contemplating its larger significance.

Minutes before her boyfriend told Nedbalek about the bear, she learned her grandfather passed away in Texas.

“I was just sitting in a chair watching it and I FaceTimed with my sister, that way she could see it, and it was like, wow, that really seemed like him just with his outdoorsy spirit,” Nedbalek recounted.

The bear did not seem to mind as Nedbalek soon became joined by neighbors watching the “bear enclosure in your own house,” as it looked at them several times before falling asleep again.

For some reason, the bear did not want to lift itself out of the well despite having the upper-body strength to do so, officers told Nedbalek.

The bear was eventually tranquilized by officers, taken out of the home and relocated three hours southwest of Colorado Springs, Parks and Wildlife posted on social media. Officers gave it a wake-up drug upon entering its new habitat.

The couple plans to remember the “mind blowing” experience by hanging photos of the encounter on their wall.

On April 28, the Colorado Springs Fire Department and a Parks and Wildlife team worked together to remove a bear from a tree on the city’s east side.

Parks and Wildlife received calls for days about a young black bear wandering through town. Three officers found the bear, which eventually ended up in a tree near Palmer Park and Powers boulevards — several miles away from more prime bear territory west of Interstate 25.

“Drought has reduced natural food sources across traditional bear habitat, pushing black bears into neighborhoods in search of calories,” Parks and Wildlife said in a recent social media post. “Remove bird feeders, secure trash, bring pet food inside, and stay outside with your pets!”

Back to better bear habitat! Video from wildlife officers who relocated and released the bear our team recovered from the window well of a Falcon, Colo., home on Tuesday. (Original post below)
🎥CPW Video/Justin Krall pic.twitter.com/n1fJFmqtTZ

— CPW SE Region (@CPW_SE) May 6, 2026