We don’t have grizzly bears in Colorado, either. Until one kills someone. A couple of months back, we were camping in high country (about 11,000 feet) and a grizzly walked right up to the encampment.
Four hours before that, we’d taken pictures of a black bear. I saw the grizzly, grabbed my weapon and camera. Fumbled the camera but kept hold of the gun. :)
We made a LOT of racket and he watched us a few minutes, then moseyed off. He didn’t run like a black bear would have. He slowly walked away.
State wildlife folks have refused to admit it was a grizzly even though I correctly identified the prints, and the outline of the bear. They put it down in the books “as a very large, male black bear”....
One day, someone’s going to get ate by one and they’ll blame it on coyotes.
Why do you think that the DOW does not want to admit that there are grizzly bears in Colorado ?