Brief by Central Staff
Animals – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Call it a battle of the Old West and the New West. A woman competing in a mountain bike race in the vicinity of Camp Hale, the former 10th Mountain Division training base between Leadville and Minturn, was attacked by two Great Pyrenees.
The Vail Daily said no report of the injuries to the bicycle rider was available.
The dogs, which weigh from 85 to 125 pounds, were possibly in the area to protect domestic sheep that graze on a national forest allotment. Or at least so said commentators on the Vail Daily website.
Differing viewpoints were offered. “Wanna have sheep? Get your own damn property and train pit bulls to guard the flock,” said one blogger. “Times have changed, and so should the grazing laws.”
But another blogger, who identified him or herself as a former rock-climbing guide who used the Camp Hale area, had a different view. “These dogs are not unfriendly, and only are there to protect the livestock.”
