Guess who’s back?

Hungry bears kept Aspen police busy on Wednesday.

In fact, Police Chief Loren Ryerson found himself answering the first bear call of the day when he took his trash out yesterday morning.

Later, officers tried to drive off a sow and two cubs in the alley behind the Main Street Bakery and Cafe.

A large black bear managed to break into a Dumpster on Williams Way despite newly installed bear-proof lids on the trash container.

?I came out this morning about 7:30 to take the trash out and discovered the bar was still across, but the one lid was ripped up,? Ryerson said. ?I lifted the lid and the bear popped his head up.?

The bear may have been in the Dumpster since about 3 a.m., according to reports.

The bruin is a familiar one in the neighborhood, according to the police chief.

?He?s huge. It?s a bear that has been in the neighborhood for a couple of years,? Ryerson said.

Pitkin County Sheriff?s Deputy Brad Gibson, who was also on the scene, said he thought the bear might have injured itself breaking into the Dumpster, since it didn?t flee when people approached to dump their garbage.

Authorities finally fired bean bags at the bear to drive it off.

The family of bears hanging out behind the bakery yesterday afternoon received numerous blasts from an air horn, but continued to hang around a large spruce along the alleyway.

Although a cub was crawling around on top of a Dumpster, it didn?t appear the bears had accessed the garbage inside.

Across town, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has set a trap for a bear that had been entering homes in the Red Butte area, according to Ryerson.