By Roger Lanse

On Sunday, June 18, 2023, at about 4:14 p.m., Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies were 

dispatched to 5212 Little Walnut Road in reference to a bear in a dumpster that couldn’t get out. When deputies arrived at the dumpster, the local New Mexico Game and Fish office was called and Don Jacquez responded.

Jacquez and Derrick Theobold, also of NMG&F, told the Beat that a small, adult, male, dark-colored bear weighing perhaps 75 pounds, had climbed into the dumpster at the edge of the forest and was unable to get out. Bruin was apparently attracted by the smell as there was no garbage in the dumpster. The NMG&F and GCSO rescuers were able to unlatch one of the dumpster’s sides to allow the bear to escape, Jacquez and Theobold said.

According to Jacquez, after release, as the bear ran toward Gomez Peak, he was allowed to stop at a little pond in a nearby creek to get a drink of water before running off at a fast clip helped along by a couple of NMG&F rubber bullets to dissuade him from returning.