Wildlife, the wild, and human decisions (Denver, Grand Junction: apartment complex, house, tenant)

[DOUBLE H]

It happened again, and this result was fatal. The Grand Junction's daily paper, the Daily Sentinel has reported a death of a 73 year old woman being mauled by a bear on her property Friday afternoon.

As a Ouray County deputy went out to investigate the call, the deputy ran into the bear just as soon as he got out of the car. He had to shoot six times with a shotgun, finally putting the bear down. The woman lives just outside of Ouray in one of the "newer subdivisions" built there.

Colorado DOW spokesman Joe Lewondowski also reported something that really got my attention. According to the neighbors who live near her (her name has not been revealed yet), they have told the sheriffs department that the woman has been feeding the bears for some time and as many as twelve bears have been seen near her house at one time or another.

[LisaCACO]

and they shot the bear.

I'm saddened for her loss of life but really, feeding a bear? this is wildlife, they do what they do. you really shouldn't shoot them for doing it.

[jim9251]

She fed bears? At her house? Good Lord. I don't blame the deputy for shooting the bear, it was probably his only option. I doubt if pepper spray or a Taser would work, and I don't even know if they carry those.

Sad story.

http://www.ouraynews.com/

Munson had constructed a metal fence that covered her porch so that she could feed bears through the fence.

[Hipchik]

Terribly sad for the woman and for the bear(s) she has been feeding. I'll never understand why people think that it is okay to feed them. It's bound to turn out bad for the human and/or the bear. Usually the bear.
There was a situation in my area a few years ago. Some people decided that it was a good idea to attract wildlife to their house by feeding them so that they could take some "cool" photos. When the bears got a little too bold, they got a gun and shot at them. Freaking morons . Thank goodness the idiots moved away. I can't remember if the DOW was involved or not.

[jazzlover]

Cabin owner fed bruins for years despite state's pleas - The Denver Post

This is a tragic case of a person with obviously no wildlife savvy grossly meddling in the natural environment--with deadly results for herself and wildlife. This is exactly the reason that I rail so vehemently against "mountain suburbia"-type development because it introduces huge numbers of environmental imbeciles into formerly natural ecosystems. When that happens, the wildlife always lose in the end.

The fact that this woman's dangerous--and illegal--behavior was tolerated for nearly 30 years also illustrates the inadequacy of Colorado law to permit authorities to cite, arrest, fine, and jail--if necessary--people who knowingly and deliberately jeopardize wildlife. This could be remedied quite easily legislatively. Colorado wildlife is property of the state of Colorado. Engaging in activity that ultimately causes death to wildlife deemed regulated or protected by law--bears, in this case--should be statutorily deemed vandalism or destruction of state property, with criminal prosecution for those engaging in such activities made possible under the laws concerning such destruction. It also could be statutorily made possible for the state to seize the property where the illegal act occurred. My prediction is that enactment of such legislation would likely put a screeching *** halt to this kind of nonsense--and protect the health and safety of both humans and wildlife. Another step would be to require all new proposed mountain residential subdivisions--including heretofore unregulated 35 acre land divisions--subject to state review of their possible impacts on wildlife habitat. When it comes to the residential/wildlife interface, it's time to see if our otherwise development-happy Legislature has enough guts to do something to protect Colorado's natural heritage before more idiots can imperil it.

[Mike from back east]

A couple of excerpts from the link:

- Munson, who rented half of her home in southwestern Colorado to several people over the years, told one of them that "when the time came, she wanted to go out with the bears."

- Colorado Division of Wildlife agents had asked Munson so many times over the past decade to stop feeding bears that she quit taking their phone calls or accepting their certified letters and tried to ban them from her property.

- The night before her death, Munson planned to feed an injured baby bear hard-boiled eggs and yogurt, another former tenant said. And she had planned to swat a large bear that was bothering the baby bear with a broom.


Did she commit suicide-by-wildlife? Autopsy is ongoing to see if she died of natural causes or was killed by a bear.

I know the law says don't feed wildlife, and we don't. Aren't there penalties stated in the law that could been applied?

I believe there was another era in our nation's history when such "daft" old folks would have been committed to a state home for being a hazard to themselves and others, but those days are long gone. Now it seems the authorities have no authority to do much of anything, and no one wants to pay any taxes for anything in the way of services for the mentally unsafe, however sweet of an old lady they might be. Not the country I grew up in 60+ years ago.....

[jazzlover]

It would be easy to "excuse" this lady's behavior as a seventy-something woman suffering from dementia--EXCEPT for the fact that she had been indulging in her dangerous and illegal behavior for 30 years--since she was in her 40's by my calculation. Was she always demented? Well, she was lucid enough to have a home in one of Colorado's highest priced areas--probably in the $500K+ realm these days.

By the way, I know some of the DOW people--they enter that career because they love animals and wildlife, and want to play a part in protecting that. It breaks their heart when they have to needlessly destroy an animal because of "stupid human tricks"--and they are having to do more and more of that these days.

[wanneroo]

Well harsh to say but it appears she got what she wanted.

Playing around with any non domesticated animal is asking for it.

I had many run ins with bears in Eagle County, especially one summer when the trash company or apartment complex refused to put a lid on the dumpster. We ended up with a problem bear and eventually it got so bad at 3 AM bears were running around like loose cats on the property. I had the cops come out several times and blast them with bean bags but soon that didn't work.

Personally I have no problem with shooting a bear if it is threatening but no point in making the problem worse by feeding them.

[CosmicWizard]

jazzlover wrote:

This could be remedied quite easily legislatively. Colorado wildlife is property of the state of Colorado.

Commons sense says yes. The solution really is this simple. BUT, the anti government-intrusion-into-my-life wackos would likely see this as an EVIL action and keep such a law from passing.

[Mike from back east]

Here's looking atchya.

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