Bear eats woman, 74

[Robb]

Cabin owner fed bruins for years despite state's pleas

OURAY, Colo.-- In the evenings, Donna Munson liked to sit in front of her picture window and watch the bears amble toward her Ouray County log cabin for dinner.

The 74-year-old woman — who stocked her backyard with dog food, fruit and yogurt — was found dead outside her home Friday, being eaten by a bear.

(snip)

Colorado Division of Wildlife agents had asked Munson so many times over the past decade to stop feeding bears that she quit taking their phone calls or accepting their certified letters and tried to ban them from her property.

More...

[UndertheOcean]

1. Ungrateful beasts

[cwydro]

8. oh my

:spank:

[NightWatcher]

2. could also be titled, "bear acts like bear"

the "wild" in wild animals does not mean they take their tops off at spring break

[Deja Q]

16. In that case, it'd be titled "bear eats cougar"

:yoiks:

[cwydro]

27. THIRD spank!

:spank:

:rofl:

[Initech]

31. !!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

[Xipe Totec]

3. What a happy ending

everybody got what they wanted.

[cwydro]

10. TWICE in this thread now

I have felt the need to spank!:spank:

:rofl:

[Mojambo]

4. She shouldn't have skimped and bought the cheap dog food.

Another victim of this damn economy!

[PeaceNikki]

5. I SWORE your OP said "Beer eats woman, 74"

I literally stared at it for a full 30 seconds with this look upon my face: :\

Then I said aloud, "OH, BEARS!! The Godless killing machines!!"

[Skittles]

22. I saw the same thing, PN

even with my glasses on :o

[BuelahWitch]

6. I wonder what Steven Colbert is going to say about this...

:hide:

[gbate]

32. #1 Threatdown.

[mix]

7. It's like a zombie movie with bears.

[cwydro]

9. Reminds me of Timothy Treadwell.

Sheesh.

[stray cat]

11. We have bears hanging around the trash at are apartments - there are kids here

it isn't a good combination. The police get calls about the bears but not much they can do. Sending your kids out to discard the trash can be fatal.

[Strong Atheist]

12. The bear necessities... nt.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. She died doing what she loved -

Ah, come on!

Someone HAD to say it ...................

[rcrush]

14. She should have dressed one up like baby and tried to adopt it.

Thats what normal people do.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. "She probably shouldn't have been alone out there in her state"

If I live to be in "her state", that's the way I want to go...but I think I'll get a one way ticket to Alaska and find some place away from people.

[Robb]

18. She was pretty remote out there

...Half hour from "town," and "town" is like 800 people.

I suspect it was grand every day but the last one. :shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. I can understand that the bears probably feel territorial

of the property; but I question whether they are going to seek some other home to get "fast food"...unless the lady had neighbors close by.

I wish the article quoted CO Division of Wildlife experts rather than some cafe owner.

[Robb]

28. Oh yeah, don't misunderstand me

...There are neighbors, and the bears will go there for more people food. It's a sad situation, because a lot of bears will wind up dead about this. :(

[applegrove]

17. I hate it when people are not afraid of bears. That just isn't smart.

[Pool Hall Ace]

19. I got hung up on the last paragraph

I thought the bears ate her because she would no longer accept phone calls or certified letters from them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. They don't yet know whether it was bears that killed her

or some health issue.

She may have had a heart attack or a stroke.

[rrneck]

23. Some days you get the bear,

some days the bear gets you.

[pokerfan]

24. I feel bad

for the bears that had to be destroyed.

[Rowdyboy]

25. Given a choice between Wal-Mart "Old Roy" dogfood and 74 year old widow woman....

I'd probably eat old woman too. Wal-Mart dogfood has got to be skank!

[Nevernose]

26. People are killed and/or eaten by bears all the time.

In my classes, every year I discuss "things that are a bear and things that are not a bear." I then proceed to draw a Venn diagram, one side labeled "things that are a bear" and the other side labeled "things that are NOT a bear." Nothing's in the middle; there's no crossover, except for manbearpig. Every year, surprisingly, people get hung up on this concept. It doesn't matter how cuddly it looks: if it can eat you, it probably will eat you, or at least try to.

[sarge43]

30. The other thing about bears is they have no natural predators.

They're at the top of the food chain; we don't scare them. Being lazy omnivores they may not attack, but it's not something you want to bet your life on. They can and do out run, out climb and out jump any human being.

Living with bears:

Don't leave outside things they like to eat and that's just about anything -- bird feeders (they'll eat bird seed), food scraps in compost piles, garbage cans, etc. They don't work any harder than they have to.

If it must stay outside, put an electrified range fence around it; 10K volts will discourage them -- just.

Leave them alone. They're wild animals; they're bigger and badder than you are and they don't to take kindly to anyone or anything being between them and a snack.

"Oh, look at the cute little bear. I wonder where its mother is."

[Initech]

29. Stephen Colbert's worst nightmare.

:yoiks:

[Robb]

33. ** UPDATE: Bear caused death of Ouray County woman **

Coroner: Bear caused death of Ouray County woman