A private wildlife foundation recently issued a warning that,
after decades of absence, the grizzly bear has reappeared in
Colorado wilderness areas.
In a press release, the foundation recommended that all hikers,
joggers, mountain bikers and fishermen wear small jingle bells on
their shoes and carry pepper spray. They also suggested outdoorsmen
be able to distinguish the difference between black bear and
grizzly bear droppings.
Black bear scat contains the fur of small animals, berries and
nuts. Grizzly bear droppings contain jingle bells and smell like
pepper spray.
No! I’m just kidding! Despite continuous reports of “Ghost
Grizzlies,” the state’s official position is that the grizzly bear
is extinct in Colorado.
There are, however, black bears. In fact, the Colorado Division
of Wildlife estimates that there are 8,000 to 12,000 of them in the
state and soon they will be up and about. So, as we Coloradans
awake from our winter slumber and venture forth onto the trails of
our state parks and national forests, I thought it timely to offer
a primer on black bear encounters just in case you happen to bump
into one of those big old cuddly critters while wandering through
the woods.
The conservation group Defenders of Wildlife says that
unrelenting human encroachment has caused black bears to lose over
60 percent of their historical range. As these magnificent animals
are forced to share their habitat, the chance of a human
confrontation with a black bear has dramatically risen.
For humans, an encounter with a black bear can result in
anything from an exhilarating experience, to injury, to, on very
rare occasions, death. For the black bear, an encounter with a
human is almost always negative.
Deleterious experiences with black bears are more often the
result of human carelessness than a deliberately aggressive act by
the animal. Here are some black bear “nuggets-of-knowledge” to
tuck-away in your nature knapsack as you hike, bike, jog and fish
Colorado.
To further educate yourself on co-existing with black bears go
to the Colorado DOW website at http://wildlife.state.co.us/.