Lions - and Humans - and Bears! Oh, My!
Posted on: Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 09:00 CDT
By Bill Scanlon
Bears and mountain lions are getting into trees, trash and backyards all over Colorado, lured by the smell of easy prey and free meals.
They're getting smarter, they're getting fatter and they're getting killed more frequently, thanks to the thoughtlessness of the humans living in their midst, Colorado Division of Wildlife officials say.
In the northeastern quadrant of the state, which includes metro Denver, there have been 47 reports of human-bear encounters since April. Many involve hummingbird feeders, trash left outside, steaks left on the barbecue, garage doors left open.
In Aspen and numerous other communities in Colorado, bears actually know which day trash is picked up, going to some neighborhoods on Tuesday, other neighborhoods on Wednesday, breaking into bins, DOW spokesman Randy Hampton said.
"They're not hanging onto calendars, but they know when the easy food is coming, high in fat," Hampton said.
In Durango and Cortez, wildlife officers had to kill three mountain lions the past couple of weeks, an unprecedented number, said Joe Lewandowski, DOW spokesman for southwestern Colorado.
South-central and southeast Colorado are having "a very, very busy" bear year, with encounters in Colorado Springs, Salida, Buena Vista, Canon City, Walsenburg and LaVeta, to name a few, DOW spokesman Michael Seraphin said.
"It has been exceptionally dry," Seraphin said. "We basically had no precipitation from January to the end of June. The bears, which will eat almost anything, didn't have much of the natural forage at their disposal."
"They can smell a barbecue grill from three miles away," said Jenny Churchill, DOW spokeswoman for the metro Denver region.
DOW officers deplore having to shoot mountain lions and bears - and are frustrated by the rash of e-mails and phone calls asking why they had to kill the animals, Hampton said.
"It's because you people have trained these animals, through your improper use of trash, to hang around neighborhoods where they become dangerous, having lost their fear of humans," Hampton said.
Source: Rocky Mountain News
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