Recent headlines in Colorado:
- “Bear escapes skateboarding park: climbs ladder.”
- “Ouray woman killed by bear she fed.”
- “Bear breaks into woman’s home.”
- “Bear put down after it scratches Aspen woman.”
- “Bears have nightly buffet at the dump.”
Never before have we been able to take the term “living with bears” so literally. Bears have been wreaking havoc in Colorado this summer, and the result of their antics has been tragic for both animals and people. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has been busy searching for marauding bears, capturing them, and in 25 cases, killing them, especially in the Aspen area.
The DOW’s web page on living with bears, offers guidelines for bear-human co-existence. The rules are fairly simple and almost all have to do with bears’ attraction to anything they can eat. According to the DOW, one study showed that putting trash out in the morning instead of the night before pickup decreases the chances of a bear visit from 70 percent to just two percent.
It seems like such a small thing but our personal habits can mean the difference between life and death for Colorado’s bears.
Follow the DOW’s rules for living with bears:
- Don’t leave trash out overnight.
- Bring bird feeders and pet food inside at night.
- Lock bear-accessible windows and doors at night.
- Don’t leave any food containers or food in your car overnight.
- Pick fruit before it ripens, and pick it up off the ground.
- Clean your outdoor barbecue grills after each use.
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