THIS IS WHY THERE'S A RULE: Donna Munson, 74, fed dog food to bears
around her mountain home near Ouray, Colo., despite 10 years of pleas
from state officials to stop. "It got to the point where she never
opened her door for us, allowed us on her property or answered her
phone," a state Department of Wildlife spokesman said. Munson even
built a wire fence around her porch so she could hand food through it
directly to the bears. Munson's handyman arrived to find her outside
her home -- being eaten by a bear. Responding sheriff's deputies killed
it, but Munson was already dead. Several other aggressive bears in the
area have had to be killed this summer, and wildlife officials say
they'll likely have to kill about a dozen more: they've lost their
natural feeding instincts and instead approach humans when they're
hungry. "More bears are going to be killed because of what this woman
did," said an angry local. "It's a bad situation, and people are not
happy about it." (Ouray Plaindealer, Denver Post) ...A fed bear is a
dead bear.
Daily Kitten Chat Forum » The Newsroom
Don't feed the bears--for the bears' sake
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It's the law around here. Education is key. If a bear can get an easy meal, it will keep coming back. The bear then becomes a "nusance bear" and will be killed. If it's just in the neighborhood, but not feeding regularly, it can be relocated. We can't leave our garbage outside. I freeze garbage construed as food and put it in the garbage can the day of pickup.
Posted 2 years ago by JoanfromNewJersey #
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It's such a sad thing that people don't use they're heads. Common sense dictates that wild animals will stop hunting foods and come to the easy food source and will feed on more than the food one offers. The foolish woman with a big heart for nature brought this on so predictably. If it had been unlawful for her to do this she'd likely be alive today. Sad. =(
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It is unlawful to do what this woman did in Colorado - she just felt that she was above the law. She and her husband (before he died) had both been warned not to do this and I believe had been fined as well, but it did no good. She felt that she was helping the bears and that was all that mattered to her. Instead she has condemned many bears to death with her actions. The night before she was killed, she had told a friend that she was going to try to help a sick young bear and also was planning to use a broom to hit an older bear that was bullying the young one - not a smart thing to do, obviously.
Posted 2 years ago by KarenCentennial #
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