Brief by Central Staff
Wildlife – October 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
By all accounts, this is shaping up to be a busy season for bear encounters. The drought has reduced their food supplies, and in the early days of autumn, a bear will consume up to 20,000 calories a day (the equivalent of 160 glazed doughnuts) to put on fat for the winter hibernation, which usually starts toward the end of October.
Last year was marked by numerous human-bear confrontations, including a death in New Mexico and two attacks on campers at a Boy Scout facility above Poncha Springs. Fresh bear scat was also spotted one morning about a dozen feet from Central world headquarters.
The reports haven’t been as common this year. Perhaps people are being more careful, or it could be that there’s been so much other news — fire and drought — that we’re just not hearing much about bears.
However, they have been in the news in Buena Vista. A homeowner about two miles north of town found a cub in his yard, eying the hummingbird feeder. It took off when it noticed a human.
Another bear, an aggressive one, was captured just northwest of town on Aug. 15. “It was skin and bones,” according to its captor, Randy Hancock of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, who observed that the bears seem to be staying close to creeks where they can find water.
At Ranch of the Rockies near Hartsel, the Fairplay Flume reported a bear visiting so frequently that she’s been named “Cinnabear” by the residents, one of whom had to move his bird feeders up to 10 feet above the ground after the sow found a way to reach them at eight feet.
Two other Hartsel-area residents, James Tingle and Evelyn Whatley, said a bear visited while they were away. The bear was “unable to rouse anybody at the front door,” so it “tore off a screen and entered through a window over the kitchen sink. It spotted and ate a package of hamburger buns, a package of peanut M&Ms and a package of trail mix. The chestnut-colored bear passed up a bowl of fruit, but found more M&Ms in a bowl and polished those off.”
Bears also appeared in an article by Rosanna Hart in the September edition of the Crestone Eagle. She organized a shamanic journey to communicate with the local bears, and “Many of us received clear messages from the bears, and certain themes recurred. The bears reminded us that before they began entering our homes in search of food, we entered their habitat and built our buildings in it….”
Other spirit communications from the ursine sector revealed that “For the bears, there seemed to be no separation between the inner and outer worlds,” and “The bears know well that we are out of balance with our world because of our emphasis on our minds.”
The article concluded with: “While we were journeying, a bear removed a window from the home of one of our group and ate from her refrigerator and cupboards. And so life and learning continue.”
Indeed. This year’s drought may still precipitate many encounters. In Colorado, female black bears won’t be seeking their dens until late October, and males are generally around until early November.
