Colorado wildlife officials were forced to capture and relocate a young black bear which refused to go into hibernation - because it was too busy eating.

Last month the young bear, likely older than a cub but not yet fully mature, was seen foraging for food in the town of Niwot in Boulder County, instead of entering its usual state of torpor - a lighter version of hibernation.

"We had been taking reports for a few weeks of this bear being around town, being seen and trying to get into some food," Kara Van Hoose, 35, Northeast region public information officer at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, from Boulder, said. "

"What makes this so unusual is that bears are normally in torpor this time of year."

Torpor differs from true hibernation in that it allows bears to wake intermittently, seek food, or even change dens if necessary, explained Van Hoose.

"This bear, though, should have been in torpor based on the time of year and the cold weather we had seen," Van Hoose noted. "But for some reason, it wasn't. "

"It could be because there wasn't as much snow as we normally see in Boulder County in January, or if it still finds food, it has no reason to go into torpor."

The bear eluded authorities for weeks, despite traps being set to capture it.

Eventually, officials tracked the bear to a cottonwood tree, where they tranquilized it with a dart gun.

"The bear went to sleep, and then we put a tag on its ear, which we do for every bear that we have hands-on management with," Van Hoose explained."

The team then relocated the bear to a colder, more remote habitat where food sources were scarce, increasing the chances of its biological instincts kicking in.

"We place the bear in good bear habitat, hoping the incoming colder weather and lack of food sources will spur the bear into torpor," Van Hoose said. "

She added that wildlife officials use a paintball gun at the release site to reinforce a bear's natural fear of humans and discourage it from returning to populated areas.

Since its relocation, the bear has not been spotted again, which is exactly what wildlife officials hoped for.

"Once we relocate a bear, we hope to just kind of never hear from it again," Van Hoose said."