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Officers kill mama bear in south Boulder

Ryan Morgan, The Camera

Published July 24, 2008 at 6:55 a.m.
Updated July 24, 2008 at 6:55 a.m.

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A female black bear sits about 30 feet up a tree in the back yard of a house on Miami Way in south Boulder on Monday, July 14, 2008.

Photo by Paul Aiken, Boulder Camera

A female black bear sits about 30 feet up a tree in the back yard of a house on Miami Way in south Boulder on Monday, July 14, 2008.

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Officers from the Colorado Division of Wildlife this week killed a bear in south Boulder that they said had become too used to wandering around city neighborhoods.

Claire Solohub, a district wildlife manager for the division, said officers had already relocated the bear from south Boulder in June after it kept showing up in residents’ backyards. The bear is believed to be the mother of a cub that died last month after being electrocuted.

Solohub said the female bear was relocated to Larimer County in late June, and wildlife officials were hopeful because they hadn't seen or heard reports of her showing back up in Boulder for three weeks.

But that changed on July 14 when she showed up in a tree off of Table Mesa Drive and Miami Way. The bear was up too high in the tree to safely dart, Solohub said, so officers "babysat" her for hours until dark.

She wasn't seen again until Tuesday morning, when she showed up in the 500 block of 46th Avenue, Solohub said. Under the division’s policy, bears are only tagged and relocated once. After that, bears that refuse to leave are killed.

For the rest of the story, visit the Camera by clicking here.

Comments

  • July 24, 2008

    8:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    FlyfishDude52 writes:

    Too bad the DOW didn't explain clearly to the bear that it only gets one strike before they kill you. I think we need a congressional inquiry regarding communicating this clearly to wildlife.

  • July 24, 2008

    8:34 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    temurlan writes:

    This is a sad story every way you look at it.

  • July 24, 2008

    8:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mtn__Gator writes:

    I guess it's time for more bears to kill humans since we too have become "used to wandering around THEIR neighborhoods." Payback time..

  • July 24, 2008

    8:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    El_Mariachi writes:

    How did this become a story about Californians...Texans...and illegals?

  • July 24, 2008

    8:56 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    gr8fun4me writes:

    I'm a native Californian and I'd gladly go back if all the other people that AREN'T natives go back to where they came from. The state got ruined by all the immigrants from inside and outside the US:)

  • July 24, 2008

    9:17 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Squatch writes:

    Once again the animals suffer because of people. I know Claire and she would have loved To relocate it again even further away but the bear would find its way back to it home range. One major problem that no one addresses it the ammount of activity (mountian biking, hiking dog walking on trail, ect)that happens in the front range so these animal become accustomed to people an have no problem wandering into town or around people.

  • July 24, 2008

    9:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mike1969 writes:

    Here is the first ILLEGAL alien comment: I wish we had the same policy with ILLEGAL aliens as we do with bears! It would serve as both a punishment and as a deterrent to others.

    Under the division’s policy, bears are only tagged and relocated once. After that, bears that refuse to leave are killed.

    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news...

    Before anyone calls me a racist please remember that ILLEGAL aliens are not a race. They are all just CRIMINALS who have ILLEGALLY entered/invaded the USA from a variety of other countries! I DO NOT like CRIMINALS from any country regardless of their race.

    I do however like Bears and feel bad that we have to kill them when they are just working hard and trying to provide for their families. Maybe if there were 12-20 million less ILLEGAL aliens draining our resources and taking up space we could accommodate more bears.

    Now here is a crazy thought, what if the first time we caught an ILLEGAL alien we tagged them and relocated them to their home country and on the second and final time we caught them we relocated them to the bear relocation site. If their was food for the bears at this site maybe the bears would not come back into town.

  • July 24, 2008

    10:04 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    FlyfishDude52 writes:

    Thanks Mike. The very thought that I initially had.

  • July 24, 2008

    10:18 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Tory writes:

    Wildlife officers are about to do it again, they are going to shoot a mama bear and her 2 cubs that can be seen from Beaver Creek, they relocated her and her cubs 100 miles away, but they were back in a week. She has not intimidated anyone, she is a joy to watch high up on the mountain by tourist, employees and residents. Officers have not tried any type of discouraging action, but it not like she or her cubs have threatened anyone. She will hibernate before the ski season. Bears do not imtimidate anyone, unlike sharks, should we have a hunt to kill every shark in the ocean, they have been known to bite. How about alligators,should we destroy every one last in a lake or canal in Florida, we would be eliminating the species every bit of water front in Florida is built on. Beaver Creek, the playground to the elite, can afford to take other action. The bears are actually in a wildlife management area, even if they shoot this trio another will fill the space in the eco-system and again they will have to kill.

  • July 24, 2008

    10:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    MsValeriah writes:

    Once again, Floyd Hill has to make some nasty, overly angry comment regarding the Department of Wildlife. I doubt these folks enjoy that aspect of their job when they have to do it.

    I do wish there were another solution. It's very, very sad and awful that the bears have to suffer for what is mostly created by human carelessness. I think most of us would agree that it would be better if they could somehow scare bears and other wildlife away from humans and human dwellings in such a way that they would learn to stay away. Barring that, transporting them even further away - something, anything other than having to kill them. It would be costly, but I for one would be willing to pay more taxes in order to give them a better chance at staying alive.

    We're not the only species on this planet that matters. And no, I'm not a PETA constituent - I detest PETA and their true agenda. I do believe that we should find better ways to protect and nurture all the animals of our world, while they're still here, along with the places they live in. We only have this one world, and we need to treat it with more respect.

  • July 24, 2008

    10:46 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    freedomfighter1 writes:

    Uh...How about you relocate them and use some adversive pairing with humans and some pain. For example, don't relocate them, shoot them with the bags of pellets as they are found in town and chase them out. If you knock them out and move them then they really don't know whats going on. We need to pair our communities with a painful stimulus. That way they remember that town=pain. If I were in a community tree and then woke up in the wilderness, I'd probably head back too, not noticing the danger. If you are only going to give the bear one opportunity, then make sure you use effective modification techniques.

  • July 24, 2008

    10:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Dick_Tater writes:

    Her porridge was too cold.

  • July 24, 2008

    11:44 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    RealifeTauren writes:

    Mike1969.

    You really don't know what you are talking about. I am a former illegal (not from Mexico), and can tell you that the immigration policy is so flawed that it makes "illegals" inevitable.

    Though I might agree that not all illegals are necessarily positive additions to society, a good number of them are victims of the system and would rather be here legally than not.

    Don't let your hatred blind you, as you are obviously angry at something and are seemingly choosing an easy target to vent your anger on.

    Remember, this great country was built on the backs of unwelcome immigration...from the founding fathers of this nation, to the Chinese laying the railroad, all were unwelcome during their day, but contributed historically somehow.

  • July 24, 2008

    1:10 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mike1969 writes:

    Hello RealifeTauren.

    I would like to stand by my statement that we should leave the “Hard working bears who are just trying to provide for their families” alone and focus on ILLEGAL immigration instead. Our policy with ILLEGALS should be the same as it is for bears. This again should be the policy for ALL ILLEGAL aliens and not just the ILLEGAL aliens from one particular country. That policy should be that all ILLEGAL aliens are only tagged and relocated once. After that, ILLEGAL aliens that refuse to leave are killed. (Maybe fed to the bears) This would be much better than the current policy where we catch the bears/ILLEGALS, relocate them somewhere else, and then a week later they are back. (Often called the Bush Catch and Release policy)

    The only other thing I would like to add is that employers who continue to hire and exploit the ILLEGAL aliens are also punished harshly with jail time and confiscation of property and assets. If we remove the job magnets we will not have to feed as many ILLEGALS to bears.

    Plain and Simple.

    More good info on the cost of ILLEGAL immigration at http://www.immigrationcounters.com/

    And let me tell you, Bears cost a heck of a lot less than ILLEGAL immigration does! How many people do you think were killed by bears this year compared to how many deaths were caused by ILLEGAL aliens?

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