Bear Stories, Denver

This one has gone viral:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/10/02/video-colorado-woman-scares-bear.html

but here's another side of it.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/autopsy-woman-attacked-killed-by-bear

Maybe not such a good idea after all. Check the description of how the bear got to the victim through a wire fence.

Sad thing in the second story is they had to kill a bear which never touched the "BBF" (best bear feeder) and then the larger bear showed up which was the correct one to kill. There is no doubt that the BBF was habitually feeding bears, hence the enclosure, and the larger male had become highly territorial. When that large bear beat up the smaller bear it was without a doubt defending its food source it had grown accustomed to. Don't feed the wildlife! They are not pets!

the bear even ate her shirt...reminds me of a story of a guy that lived in alaska during the summers and routinely fed black bears from his home which he called "bear haven". the bears became so destructive he had to build an electric fence to keep them from demolishing his house...and these were black bears, not grizzlies. don't know what ever became of that situation, but the guy was still alive last I heard.

Good Grief.

I am not surprised the big ol' blackie in the first video took fright and fled: It was coming after the bird feeder, wasn't fully habituated yet, and fled when met with aggressive resistance. 

Very tragically, the other woman had set herself up perfectly for such a sad outcome. An attempt, if there was any, to chase the large bear away with a broom had nothing to do with the attack. Her feeding them and eliminating the animals' fear was the causational action. 

Gonzan,

I agree with your thoughts.  We are all familiar with bears habituated to humans.  Now we have humans habituated to bears.  Feeding bears is always a crime.  None of these scenarios ever turn out with a positive outcome.

gonzan said:

Good Grief.

I am not surprised the big ol' blackie in the first video took fright and fled: It was coming after the bird feeder, wasn't fully habituated yet, and fled when met with aggressive resistance. 

Denver apparently has a lot of bears in town right now. I just hope other people don't think they can get away with it, too. 

I notice the only negative thing that any of the newscasters said was that it 'wasn't recommended' or that she would have been better to 'stay in the house'.

What a viewer might see as courageous, I think of as dumb.

they are wild animals

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