I’ve avoided deer encounters ever since last fall when an overly protective doe attempted to stomp the life out of our beagle.  He was standing next to our deck, and had wandered between the deer and her fawn when she attacked him.  As I ran down our back stairs, I yelled at the doe just as I would yell at an attacking dog, but that didn’t even phase her.  Luckily, Hunter the beagle is small, fast and loud, and we came to his defense quickly, throwing pebbles at the animal until she finally backed off.

A Florissant, CO woman wasn’t quite as lucky.  On Monday, 63-year-old Joan Nutt was gored by a buck at the home of her sister on County Road 31 near Florissant.  Nutt’s family was familiar with the deer, according to the Colorado Division of Widlife, and said it visited their property often.  Nutt called the deer, attempting to pet it, but when it got close, it lowered its head and charged.  A passerby helped scare off the buck, but  Nutt received cuts and bruises on her hands, upper leg, stomach, hip, elbow and upper arm.

The deer was tranquilized and later euthanized, and its body was sent to a DOW wildlife health lab in Fort Collins.

DOW officials took the opportunity to remind people to remember that wildlife can always pose a threat to humans.  If you encounter a deer, give it space.  Don’t approach it, and (does this really have to be said?) never, ever pet it.

– Deb Acord

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It’s happened again. A black bear attacked a man in his home Thursday night in Aspen. According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, a man in the Meadowood Drive area off Castle Creek on the west side of town. The DOW reports that the man heard his three dogs parking on the ground floor of his house, and when he went downstairs, he was confronted by a large black bear. The bear struck him, but then escaped through a window the man managed to open. The DOW has set a trap for the bear; if it’s caught, it will be killed. The agency hasn’t released any information yet about what might have attracted the bear to the house.

– Deb Acord

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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.

Deb Acord

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