Black Bear Attacks: The Second Colorado Incident and Some Reflections

» JerryBear - The Second Colorado Incident and Some Reflections

Hi all!
I have finally obtained details concerning the more recent fatality in Colorado from a nice lady named Kim. The first one, mentioned in the article above, took place (I believe) in 1972 and involved an aging bear with bad teeth taking a sleeping camper in a clearly predatory attack. The second attack was not really a true predatory attack. It instead involved a man doing something stupid. He lived out in the woods in a trailer near Salida, Colo and the incident probably took place in August of 1973. This bear had been messing around in his trash and he had run it off several times. He finally decided he was tired of this, so he shot the bear and ducked back into his trailer. The wounded bear came for him right through the metal door of the trailer and killed him. The bear then dragged the body into the woods and partially devoured it; a rare example of a black bear "vindictively devouring" a hated enemy. This sort of practice is more common with grizzlies.

Black bears are often cruelly and unnecessarily injured by people casually shooting them like this, often for nothing worse than merely passing through. Not only is this reprehensible, but it can create a hazardous situation for others. In some areas, such shootings kill more bears than legal hunting. Although it is comparatively rare for a black bear to seek revenge like this (compared to grizzlies), it can certainly happen as this case shows. Wounded black bears have been sometimes known to "play dead", in order to throw their persecuters off guard until they come near. I know of a couple of cases of hunters who were horribly mutilated as a result of this simple trick. One of my colleagues admitted to me that a friend of his shot a black bear with a .22 at a campground because it was making noise getting into the garbage. The bear in this case ran off into the woods, but they were foolish enough to follow the blood trail until the lost it. A grizzly being trailed under such conditions would almost certainly find an ambush spot to lie in wait for any pursuers. A black bear is capable of doing the same thing, if more rarely. He said they "had" to shoot the bear because they couldn't get any sleep. I have difficulties when people say that the "only" solution to a problem is to shoot something. Too many people in love with their death toys seem to miss no opportunity to use them destructively. I truly respect responsible gun ownership and enjoy some occaisional target shooting myself, but I really dislike those who carry any trace of that teenage attitude which believes, "If it crawls, it falls; if it flies, it dies; if it stops, it drops." I doubt if there is any task that wildlife managers hate worse than having to track a wounded grizzly through an area full of people because some cruel and stupid idiot took a pot-shot at it with a .22. May the grizzer bears feast richly on the carcasses of such fools!

Garbage in bear country can be easily placed in bear-proof containers, in fact, they should be required. I have already suggested a number of ways to non-harmfully communicate to black bears that their presence is not desired on your premises, if necessary bear spray and a slingshot can be used to get the point across without driving the bear into a killing frenzy. As a last resort, wildlife managers are usually willing to trap and relocate a persistant pest. Sometimes it is necessary to shoot a black bear; usually if it acts overtly aggressive towards humans without provocation, habitually breaks into dwellings, or is preying on livestock. In such a case, a .30 06 or bigger rifle with magnum loads must be used. The actual shooting should be done by an experienced and competent hunter who can make a clean kill. If the animal is wounded, the prospective hunter must be willing and able to track the animal (potentially dangerous!) and finish the job. Wildlife agencies will usually have somebody on hand who can do the job. In general, peaceful coexistence with black bears is easily done if the humans would take some reasonable precautions. Although black bears possess the strength and physical weaponry to kill a lion, they are overwhelmingly easy-going, tolerant and gentle souls who are happy in just enjoying their comfortable lives and letting others do the same. But don't forget what happened to that guy in Colorado! Add that to your list of stupid things not to do. Black bears fully deserve our respest.

Thoughtfully Yours,

JerryBear

Gggrowwrrr!!!

-- posted by JerryBear