A black bear wandered straight through the propped-open door of a Fraser, Colorado arcade bar last month, triggering a frantic chase through the streets that ended with an officer yelling, “Bear!” to alert people inside. Body camera footage released by the Fraser Winter Park Police Department shows Officer Blankers sprinting after the animal, shouting commands it had no intention of following, before it slipped inside the popular tap house and was eventually led back outside without hurting anyone.
The footage, timestamped 9:16 p.m. on August 13, shows Officer Blankers carrying what appeared to be a firearm equipped with less-lethal beanbag rounds as he chased the bear through the streets of Fraser, according to the Denver Gazette. As the bear continued up the street, the officer commanded it to stop — a plea the animal, predictably, ignored. Instead it ducked into Retrocade Tap House, an arcade bar and tap room at 511 S. Zerex St. known for its classic arcade cabinets, pinball machines and full bar with 20-plus beers on tap, according to Kineticist.
Per the Denver Gazette’s account, Officer Blankers yelled to alert people inside the venue before muttering, “Oh dear god,” as the chase unfolded. The bear was eventually led back outside without injuring anyone. The door had been propped open, allowing the animal to wander in as easily as it wandered back out.
Police Warn Bears Won’t Listen to Reason
In the aftermath, the Fraser Winter Park Police Department said people should not expect a bear to listen when told where to go, a blunt acknowledgment that no amount of shouting guarantees compliance from a hungry wild animal. The department advised residents and business owners to keep doors closed, give wildlife plenty of space, and secure attractants like trash and food waste. Officials added that bears are especially active this time of year, a warning that lines up with what wildlife biologists have been documenting statewide.
That activity has a biological explanation. Black bears enter a phase called hyperphagia in late summer, requiring up to 20 hours of daily foraging and roughly 20,000 calories a day to build fat reserves before hibernation, according to 9News. Severe drought and wildfires this year devastated the berry and acorn crops bears normally rely on in the backcountry, pushing more animals toward human areas in search of an easy meal.
A Record Surge in Bear Conflicts Statewide
The Retrocade incident landed amid a historic spike in human-bear conflicts across Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife logged 8,672 human-bear incident reports statewide between January 1 and August 31, a 135% surge over the 3,680 reports recorded during the same stretch in 2025, the outlet reported. Unsecured garbage remains the single largest trigger for those conflicts, accounting for 57 percent of all reported bear conflicts in 2025, according to 9News, followed by pet food or bird seed at 16 percent.
The consequences for habituated bears have been severe. Colorado Parks and Wildlife euthanized 294 black bears and relocated 98 others through August 31, compared to just 83 euthanizations and 33 relocations over the same period in 2025, according to the Colorado Sun. Under Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s policy, a first offense may result in relocation, while a bear may face euthanasia after a second strike or when it poses an immediate threat. The agency estimates the state’s total black bear population at between 17,000 and 20,000 animals, with management goals calling for population reductions across eight of Colorado’s 17 bear management areas.
New Law, Same Old Problem
The Fraser encounter also happened during the week Colorado’s new bear-attractant law took effect. That timing underscored the state’s continuing bear problem.
Fraser’s arcade-bar visitor wasn’t an isolated case this summer. Two days earlier, Breckenridge police used the recorded sound of a taser discharge to haze a bear out of the Grand Timber Lodge resort after it stole a stash of M&Ms, as Hoodline previously reported. Between drought-starved berry crops and hyperphagia driving bears to forage nearly around the clock, Colorado’s mountain towns have spent the summer fielding one unexpected animal visitor after another — even if few encounters have ended as harmlessly as the one at Retrocade.
