Bear kills woman while she walks her dogs, Colorado officials say. ‘Sad and tragic’

Puzzled to find his girlfriend’s two dogs outside their home Friday night, a Durango man went looking for her, Colorado officials said.

After an hour-long search, he found the 39-year-old woman had been killed by a bear while walking the dogs, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said in a news release.

“It’s a very sad and tragic event,” Jason Clay of the agency told KCNC. “It’s bear habitat and bears are known to be there and expected to be there.”

Wildlife officials later killed a female black bear and two cubs after tracking them with dogs.

Necropsies, or animal autopsies, on the bears Sunday found human remains in the digestive systems of the mother bear and one of the cubs, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said.

Authorities identified the woman as Laney Malavolta, the Durango Herald reported.

“While Laney’s physical presence was suddenly taken from this earth, all that know and love her can take comfort; Laney’s soul will live forever in her favorite place, doing her favorite thing,” her family and Justin Rangel, her boyfriend, said in a joint statement Tuesday. “She would not have wanted it any other way.”

An autopsy Tuesday showed Malavolta died of a penetrating wound to the neck, according to the publication.

“Anytime there’s an attack on a human, our policy is to put those bears down,” Clay told The Durango Herald. “Our No. 1 job is always to keep human health and safety in mind.”

Wildlife officials discovered the woman’s body had been partially eaten and found “an abundance of bear scat and hair” at the scene of the attack near Trimble, north of Durango, the agency reported.

“Bear attacks are extremely rare,” Cory Chick, the agency’s southwest region manager, said in the release. He said bears in Colorado are now emerging from hibernation.

Clay advised that people make noise when out in areas where bears are known to be around, The Durango Herald reported. Bear spray and air horns also make good deterrents.

If you encounter a bear, talk quietly to it and wait for it to leave, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials advised. Do not climb trees or run from bears. If you spot cubs, assume the mother is nearby and leave immediately. But fight back if attacked by a black bear — do not play dead.

“These are wild animals,” Clay told the publication, “and bears are dangerous animals.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2021 at 8:03 AM with the headline "Bear kills woman while she walks her dogs, Colorado officials say. ‘Sad and tragic’."