(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A FOX21 viewer sent photos of a bear sighted crossing Cresta Road near Lower Gold Camp Road in the Bear Creek Park area.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said bears are active from mid-March through early November and, in the late summer and early fall will need 20,000 calories a day to gain enough fat to survive the winter. Bears have a nose 100 times more sensitive than humans and can smell food up to five miles away. Bears also are very smart and have great memories and once they find food they will come back for more.

CPW warns the public to be bear aware as bears will work hard to get the calories they need, and can easily damage property, vehicles, and homes. If a bear becomes aggressive in their pursuit of an easy meal they must often be destroyed.

“Every time we’re forced to destroy a bear, it’s not just the bear that loses. We all lose a little piece of the wildness that makes Colorado so special,” writes CPW.