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Bears Keep Visiting Douglas County Family's Home

CASTLE PINES, Colo. (CBS4) - The owners of a home in Douglas County say they feel like they are being stalked by bears.

The Duncan family says two bears keep coming back and hanging out in their yard.

"I was really scared. My heart was pounding. I thought about Sibby and just keeping all of us safe from the bear," said Elizabeth Duncan.

Duncan said she first spotted one of the bears when it was drinking from a fountain in the backyard of her home, located in Castle Pines near Interstate 25.

The screams of Sibby, Elizabeth's 19-month-old daughter, scared the bear off. But a bear -- possibly the same one -- returned in the middle of the night.

"The bear had apparently opened this door and taken all of the garbage and just made a giant buffet of wrappers and fruit and diapers," she said.

Then a brazen bear showed up the next day. The family spotted it three different times.

"He was just lounging there like he was poolside, just hanging out," she said.

Elizabeth's shouts didn't scare the bear off.

"I just yelled 'Get off my property.' I didn't really know what else to say. I don't know if it would have mattered if I yelled my grocery list to him," she said.

She contacted the state's Division and Wildlife and they told her to spray bear mace and throw rocks in an effort to try to discourage the bears from returning.

Officials said this kind of bear behavior at this time of year is not that unusual. Their goal is always trying to get the bears to leave peacefully. If that doesn't happen, or if the bear gets aggressive, they say they would be forced to remove it.

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