Donna Munson, 74, was pawed through the wire fence on her porch, knocked down and dragged outside the enclosure. Ouray County Sheriff Dominic "Junior" Mattivi said the blow might have rendered Munson unconscious before the culprit bruin dragged her 30 feet from her home, leaving her body for a contractor to discover.
Munson, by most accounts, had been feeding bears at her property for years; the Division of Wildlife said it was unable to prove she did so knowingly, which hampered attempts to stop her.
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"Obviously, the incident in Ouray is not our standard conflict situation," the Division of Wildlife's Tyler Baskfield said. "People need to remember feeding bears can be both intentional and unintentional."
Ursine encounters
Human-bear conflict takes many forms. There's poaching; bears feeding out of trash, or ravaging people's cherry trees, as happened in late June in Montrose County. That same month, a woman came nearly face-to-face with a bear on her property.
Bears can cause extensive property damage, as a family learned just last week when they found their cabin in the Silverjack subdivision ransacked, with incriminating paw prints in spilled flour.
"We were just in such shock," Helen McClanahan told the Daily Press.
She and several family members had planned a reunion at her mother-in-law's cabin on the upper part of the Cimarron.
Instead, they were left with a mess that could cost thousands to clean up. They have been asked to stay away from the cabin until the problem bears can be trapped; as of last report, the Gunnison Wildlife Conservation office had trapped one of two cubs. They are still on the lookout for a sow and the other cub, as well the young bear suspected of clawing its way into the cabin through a window.
"Everything was just totally ruined, trashed," McClanahan said, detailing overturned lamps, bear scat, dirt, broken items, and a virtually destroyed kitchen, where even the shelves had been pulled out by a bruin searching for food.
The McClanahans had been at the cabin five days earlier. They packed out all their trash, leaving only dry goods and some water, secured inside cupboards and the fridge. The bear did not practice "leave no trace," however. It punctured the large water jug and the water mixed with sugar, flour, rice and syrup torn out of the cabinets. The creature even tapped a six-pack by puncturing the beer cans.
Aware of Munson's death, McClanahan notified both her mother's insurer and Gunnison wildlife officers. She said the family was concerned about the safety of others in the subdivision, and later learned of a neighbor's reports that a bear had been trying to get into his cabin and truck. He reported seeing a sow and a cub.
McClanahan was told the bears would likely keep targeting the family cabin because they were able to get food there once.
"You have to respect Colorado. It's wilderness area; it's nature. We're in their territory. We're encroaching on their habitat. You can't blame the bears. They're just doing what they're supposed to do," she said of her ursine visitor.
"I'm just glad we didn't walk in on it."
Broad implications of bear-feeding
Garbage is a huge attraction to bears, as are barbecue grills, pet food and even fruit trees. People may be "feeding" bears without realizing it, Baskfield said — by leaving out pet food, unsecured garbage, or even failing to clean the barbecue grill.
Providing food to bears puts everyone at risk. He feared that in all the media attention surrounding Munson's death, people were missing that point.
"People need to understand these types of situation where people are feeding bears have broad implications on the community as a whole," he said. "Their neighbors have to live in fear, too."
Mattivi said that several encounters have been reported in the town of Ouray, where residents complained of bears trying to get into homes or onto decks. "Right now, they're all over the place. They're going to keep looking and if they know they can get food at certain houses, they're going to keep coming back," he said.
Feeding bears also affects wildlife resources, of which bears are part. "Once those bears get habituated, they're most likely going to end up in trouble and be removed. It takes away from people's quality of life," Baskfield said.
First responders are at risk from habituated bears, as was also the case Aug. 5.
"We saw that with the Ouray deputy who had to kill a bear when he showed up on scene," Baskfield said.
That bear, a 250-pounder, was killed. Authorities also downed a 394-pound male bear, which is suspected of killing Munson. Human tissue was found in its stomach.
Prior to the Aug. 5 incident, the DOW had trapped two other bears with the permission of Munson's caretaker, who feared for his safety.
"I don't want to paint bears as bloodthirsty creatures, because it's just not the case," Baskfield said. "It's when they are habituated that the danger ramps up."
Statistics are on his side. Though Munson's is the third fatal bear mauling in the state since the 1970s, the DOW has recorded numerous other attacks, with 2001 being an especially active year. (See sidebar for list of bear attacks).
A few common threads can be seen in the 40-plus attacks since 1971 — in many instances, the encounters occurred at campsites and/or involved food. The second most common elements, Baskfield said, were the presence of cubs or bears being surprised.
"I think people can glean from this that the food issue is a big deal when it comes to injuries and to the danger factor of these animals," he said.
Losing one's fear can be deadly
Problem bears can be relocated. Dangerous bears are killed.
Still, people can grow so accustomed to bears that they lose sight of a simple fact: Bears are wild animals. They are not predictable. Baskfield said that shortly after Munson's death, he saw a photograph in the LA Times that showed a bear on a picnic table, with four people standing nearby.
"It's not going to end well for that bear and, worst case scenario is it doesn't end well for one of the people," he said.
Reports of bear-feeding at the Munson property had been ongoing for years and Baskfield said the DOW warned her several times. But DOW's goal is to try to get people to change their behavior before issuing tickets.
"Residents at this house were contacted numerous times until finally they stopped coming to the door," he said.
According to Baskfield, DOW officers were asked to leave the property and thereafter, residents stopped answering the phone. Munson, he said, did not respond to a certified letter warning her of the potential risks to herself and to the bears.
DOW then investigated, but the law states a person must knowingly be feeding bears, which is something agents were unable to establish.
Had they been able to prove Munson's intent, she could have been ticketed. The first ticket carries a $100 fine; the second offense, a $500 fine, and all subsequent tickets come with a $1,000 fine.
"I doubt that a $100 ticket would've changed her behavior. I doubt a $1,000 ticket would have changed her behavior," Baskfield said.
"We hope we can take this horrible, tragic situation and change people's behavior, and at least take a little bit of positive with it," he added.
Mattivi's message is simple: Don't feed bears. "It's common knowledge what can happen and we saw the worst of it this last weekend," he said.
Fatal bear attacks
1971: Newlyweds on their honeymoon in Grand County; woman was injured, and her new husband dragged off and killed. The bear was found and destroyed.
1993: Bear broke into camper and killed it occupant in Fremont County. The 24-year-old victim shot at the bear, but only grazed him. The bear was trapped and destroyed.
2009: Donna Munson, 74, was dragged from her porch area in Ouray County and fatally mauled by a bear she was feeding. The bear likely responsible was killed; a necropsy showed human tissue in its stomach. Three other bears on the property have also been killed.
Non-fatal bear attacks
1966: Four-year-old pulled from sleeping bag while on a cattle drive
1993: Bear charges hunter
1986: Seven-year-old sleeping outside in a group grabbed; bear returned and bit her 11-year-old sister while trying to drag the girl off in her sleeping bag
1989: Bear entered tent where food was kept, clawing the adult occupant
1990: Yearling bear attacked 16-year-old Fruita girl; later determined she and other campers were feeding the bear
1998: Hiker surprised mother bear; was bitten and clawed while climbing tree to escape
1998: Man hanging skinned elk attacked by bear that had fed on the carcass earlier
1999: Hiker surprised mother and cubs; he also sustained injuries when escaping into a tree, which the sow then charged several times
2000: Bear confronted four hunters in Mesa County, biting two of them before one of the others shot and killed it
2001:
• Teen bitten by bear that returned to campsite and chased his father. A family member killed the bear, which was used to finding food at the campsite.
• Scout leader scratched and bitten by bear in her tent.
• Boy Scout injured by bear in same tent where previous victim had stayed; DOW closed the campground for lack of bear-proof trash containers.
• Camper used hatchet to scare off bear that tore through his tent and bit him
• Bear swiped woman through her tent. It left after the attack, but returned while she was gone looking for help and destroyed the campsite. It had been finding food in the area.
2002:
• Boy Scout on outing bitten on leg in his tent
• Students encountered bear in Park County
2003
• Bear injured two campers in Rocky Mountain National Park after slashing through their tent. It remains on the loose.
• Man scratched while in his sleeping bag
2004:
• Wildlife agent in Gunnison County was attacked by the bear he was tracking for killing sheep.
• Bear grabbed a woman, rolled her around, smelling her. No serious injuries.
• A Montrose County shepherd was bitten after defending his dog from a sow and her cub, which he'd found among his sheep. He beat the bear with a branch, and was able to shoot it.
2005:
• Man mauled by a bear that came in through a makeshift pet door.
• 85-year-old woman injured by bear she had been feeding in her yard; three other bears known to frequent her yard weren't captured.
2006
• Camper sustained glancing blow to his head
• Mesa County woman swiped by bear in her tent
2007
• Woman sustained lacerations and abrasions when yearling attacked her on her porch
• Man swatted in face by sow found with her cub in his feed shed.
• Homeowner encountered bear in garage, which slashed him across the back as he ran
Source: Tyler Baskfield, Division of Wildlife
Learn from mistakes wrote on Aug 16, 2009 9:46 AM:
Why is that lady shocked about a bear breaking into the cabin at Cimarron? It's bear country! People should know that. "