BEARS: events of 8-30-08(by Janice Speed): This version is abridged. The Facts as I recall them from my conversation with DOW's Shaun Deeney:
A family on Paisley had a young boy walking his dog by his home and he was charged by a bear. Next his mother was charged. The father came out and discharged a firearm. A call to 911 was placed and at some point the DOW became involved and arrived to trap the bear family at a neighbor's house. What was unknown at the time of the bear's aggression was that unseen up on a shelf in the family's (open) garage were two cubs. The DOW trapped the cubs to draw out the mama bear. When she was disabled they found a lip tattoo indicating that she was a repeat offender. The DOW also canvassed the neighbors and found that mama had charged at someone else previously. The cubs were dependent upon her and she had taught them to go into a garage, so in the interest of protecting human life the DOW made a tough decision to destroy the family. Relocation is not considered when the bear has been previously tagged as being involved in human-bear conflict.
Contact info is at the end.
After ruminating about this human-bear tragedy in our community I wanted to take some positive steps that might help us all live more harmoniously with our wild neighbors. Shaun Deeney is interested in talking with any of us and hearing any ideas on how to make things work better since our homes are in former wildlife habitat and animals and birds have had to adapt to a loss of their territory and natural food supply.
What can we do to prevent bears from developing behaviors that place them in conflict with human residents? What follows are some of my ideas and I am sure many of you can come up with more or better approaches.
Communication:
This starts in our families. Learning more about the wildlife here is interesting and helps insure our safety and theirs. Sharing information with (new) neighbors is very helpful. The two DOW pamphlets Living with Wildlife in Lion Country and Living with Wildlife in Bear Country are informative.
Bear Habits: How do we go about our daily living without teaching the bears behaviors that get them into trouble? Beside the obvious of not feeding wildlife which causes them to look to humans for food and to associate us with food, and placing our trash cans out only on the day of pick-up and cleaning them periodically to eliminate lingering odors, and cleaning our grills after barbecuing, there is a very basic practice that needs attention. Simply keeping our garage doors closed is easy and in keeping with the Spires covenants. Mama bears will park their cubs in a tree or on someone's lawn or possibly in your garage while they go off on bear business. Unattended open garages are an invitation for wild or human intruders. Garbage can odors and pet food stored in the garage can be smelled by bears from afar. (I recently removed that extra bag of cat food I had stored on a garage shelf.) Some partially opened garage doors have been damaged by bears wanting what is inside. Many of us have had bears in our garages and they can make a mess. Bears are also attracted by ripening fruit, pie, etc. near your open kitchen windows. They can and have climbed in through a window and caused damage in pursuit of food. I have read that once in the process of eating they are totally focused on their meal and do not even hear humans shouting at them. Bears have great memories that can recall a previous food source so they will return again. It is possible that household garbage containing catbox waste may be an effective deterrent from trash can attacks. After doing a tiny survey of neighbors with cats it seems that trash can attacks over a period of as many as 10 years were either zero or only once. If you see workers on a construction site in your neighborhood placing their food debris in an open dumpster you can call the DOW. Someone will come out and the workers may be fined. A recent house construction project on my block had workers doing just that. A neighbor tried explaining to them about the bear feeding problem but it fell on deaf ears. The bears frequented the dumpster regularly. When considering landscaping choices try to preserve berry-and acorn-producing plants, shrubs and trees on your property.....and try to forgive our wild friends when they damage your prized plantings. Remember, this is a hard year on all wildlife.
Thanks for your interest. Janice Speed
Contacts:
Janice Speed (speedandspeed@msn.com).
DOW Shaun Deeney (719) 227-5218 shaun.deeney@state.co.us Website: http://wildlife.state.co.us/ (a wealth of info)
(if Shaun is unavailable you can call DOW admin. assistant Jane Creighbaum (719) 227-5219
Cheyenne Mtn. State Park info: http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/CheyenneMountain.
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