Owens set to OK bear trackers/ Hunters will kill problem animals

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), May 3, 2002 | by Tom Ragan

Gov. Bill Owens is expected to sign into law a bill that will allow trained agents to track and kill problem bears this summer to free up Division of Wildlife officers who were overloaded with too many calls last summer.

The bill is expected to reach the governor's desk in the next two weeks, possibly sooner, said State Rep. Jim Snook, R-Alamosa, co- author of the legislation.

By June 25, any bears that return to a Dumpster, a resident's property or the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant will be shot by the agents under the DOW's two-strike policy.

"I'm pleased," Snook said of the bill's passage Wednesday in the House. "This is another set of eyes and ears for the DOW. It will allow the DOW to call in experienced hunters and outdoorsmen to become special agents. It's a win-win situation for everybody."

Who exactly the agents will be, how much they will get paid and the manner in which they will be trained is being sorted out, Snook said.

Owens said last week he plans to sign any legislation that helps the DOW deal with problem bears, although he has not specifically looked at this bill, HB1221.

"But it's a problem that needs to be addressed," Owens said. "And if the bill helps the DOW deal with problem animals, then I will sign it."

Wildlife advocates, however, say the problem is being addressed in the wrong manner.

In order to keep hungry bears at bay, residents should keep lids on their trash cans and make sure Dumpsters come equipped with devices that make it impossible for bears to break in.

Some said HB1221 is an early-hunting bill in disguise, something Sen. Lewis Entz, R-Cooper, failed to pass in late February.

Bear hunting season in the state now starts in September, the result of a 1992 ballot initiative that banned spring hunting season to protect mother bears and their cubs.

"There's going to be a lot of dead bears this summer, and it's not a solution to the real problem," said Mike Smith, state wildlife chair for the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Sierra Club.

"The thing that needs to be done," he said, "is to educate the people out in the backcountry. Make sure they clean the dirty grills. Make sure they don't leave the trash out."

Last summer, an unprecedented number of hungry bears overran many rural towns in southern Colorado, particularly Trinidad and La Veta. A late spring frost killed off most of the region's acorns and berries, causing a shortage that forced some of the state's estimated 10,000 to 12,000 bears to look for food elsewhere.

Some bears were spotted in Denver subdivisions. One even wandered into central Colorado Springs in the neighborhood just north of Circle Drive and Uintah Street.

In mid-August, another was discovered inside a soft-drink warehouse in Pueblo, consuming 4 gallons of raspberry tea.

In campgrounds across the state, there were encounters between campers and bears. In many cases, this left wildlife officers no option but to kill them under the DOW's two-strike policy.

There were so many calls - more than 1,000 - that some DOW officers spent the summer in motel rooms in the southern parts of the state to handle them, Snook said.

Lonnie Brown, district wildlife manager for the DOW in southern Colorado, sent a letter to the House that testified: "Our time was completely consumed by bears. Many of us put in double time at least. We spent very little time with our families. Other job duties suffered."

And because of the drought, wildlife advocates fear even more encounters between bears and humans this summer. A Kiowa man already was attacked by a bear in Castle Rock a few weeks ago, although he received only minor injuries to his leg.

And on Wednesday in Colorado Springs, police reported a mother bear and her cubs were spotted in a tree near Black Canyon and Rampart Range Road.

According to the report, people were stopping and taking pictures of the bear. Officers were called to the scene to post warning signs.

- Anslee Willett contributed to this report. Tom Ragan covers environment for the Gazette and can be reached at (710) 476.1661 or at tragan@gazette.com