Woman Who Fed Bears Found Mauled and Eaten

Despite repeated warnings, Donna Munson spent 10 years feeding bears from her porch. Until Friday.

It pains me to write this.

If only our blogger Ted Alvarez were not on vacation. And if only people would heed his constant advice–and that of every other expert over the last half century–not to feed bears, or make them pets, or do anything else with them but respect their size and power.

Unfortunately...

Last Friday, a visitor discovered 70+ year-old Donna Munson's body being fed upon by a bear near her home in in Ouray, Colorado. For 10 years Munson, and others at the household, had been feeding bears near the porch–despite repeated warnings from police and the Colorado Division of Wildlife. A wire fence was erected on the porch as a means of protection by the household, reported CBS4Denver and the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Sheriff's deputies investigating the incident were approached by an aggressive, five-year-old, 250-pound bear (the type was not identified) which they subsequently shot and killed. A necropsy, an autopsy of animals, performed by Colorado State University Diagnostic Lab in Grand Junction could not determine whether the bear was involved in feeding on Munson's body. Sheriff's deputies also shot and killed a second 394-pound bear at the household; it has not been confirmed whether the larger bear killed Munson. An autopsy performed on Munson, and released on Monday, revealed that the cause of death was mauling.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife–which vigorously supports an anti-bear feeding education campaign and uses the slogan "a fed bear is a dead bear"– threatened legal action against the woman's household last year for repeatedly denying their warnings. Several previous bears were also trapped on the property and later euthanized.

While most people do everything in their power to avoid interacting with bears (we receive multiple letters a month on this very topic; see our Ask the Expert section for various bear-related Q&As with Medicine Man Buck Tilton), this case is just another reminder why feeding bears is NEVER a good idea.

This is the kind of news that we hate to report. Please, please, please, use extreme caution around bears. For two great methods on keeping bears clear of campsites and people check out our videos on how to hang a bear bag and use a bear canister, measures required in most backcountry sites.

--Katie Herrell

Autopsy Confirms Elderly Woman Was Killed By Bear, CBS4Denver
DOW Assists in Investigation of Ouray County Woman's Death, Colorado Division of Wildlife

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READERS COMMENTS

Hi Tom:

I am from NYC, also, but have a summer home in the mountains of Colorado. I agree, nature is about creature eating creatures. Even humans do it.
I don't recommend feeding bear. It attracts the to the home.
Posted: Aug 22, 2009 Shaun

good to see Darwin's theory work every now and then
Posted: Aug 19, 2009 bigdood

And a note to those who claim they're willing to "take the risk"--you're not the only one(s) at risk. By doing things such as feeding bears and the like, one is setting the table--so to speak--for others, too, to be at risk when encountering these now human-habituated animals. I don't want to have to deal with a bear which has been trained by someone to associate humans with food and fun.

Keep 'em wild. We'll all be better off.
Posted: Aug 16, 2009 Perry Clark

This just sounds like natures way of weeding out the stupid and weak. Evolution lives on...
Posted: Aug 16, 2009 JDG

my message is the same although I am from N.Y.C. I have hiked all over. Including tiger country in south east asia. Nature is something eating something else 24/7 wild animals are exactly that. WILD ANIMALS and there main function is eating
Posted: Aug 15, 2009 thomas vuono

I live in western CO where this bear incident took place. I also have been a volunteer for the CO DOW, in the "Bear Aware" program. It is a program where we go door to door and talk with the residents, leave flyers, and put out ads in the papers, on bear education.

We educate the residents on what attracts bears, and what they can do to help the bears not become habituated to humans and their homes. The moto is "A fed bear is a dead bear". Which can't be put any clearer. But sadly some people just don't grasp it.

If you use the garbage cans that are designed to keep bears out, keep human and pet food inside your home and not in your shed or garage or outdoors, not use bird feeders, and keep your doors locked. Then you have done all that you can do and are a responsible resident in bear country.

This woman who was attacked in Ouray, CO was not responsible, and broke the law by feeding these bears and other wildlife. The newspaper wrote, the reason she wasn't fined was because there wasn't enough actual evidence when the DOW went to her home. If she could have been actually seen feeding the wildlife or had the food out at the time they were there, then something more could have been done then the warnings.

This year there is an abundance of natural food for the bears, but it has become a habit for the bears to go into towns and homes to get easy meals, and then the sows teach their cubs the same thing, and the circle continues.
Posted: Aug 13, 2009 Geri

Interaction between bears and humans is as old as history itself. Bears are facinating creatures. We marvel at their power and gracefulness. We may even see 'human-like' traits -- like we do with most animals, be they dogs, cats or horses. They may be friendly characters or they may be reclusive and unpredictable. But, they are not humans, they are bears and thus, are motivated by the things that motivate bears. It is sad (and fearful) when a tragedy like this occurs. These kind of tragedies remind us of the power and wildness that these creatures possess. Tragedies with natural things, whether they are bears, rock walls, glaciers, rivers, mountain trails � you name it � remind us of our place in the big scheme of life and our desire to be a part of it. We may try to �tame� any of those things, but the fact that we even try tells us that there is a lot of wildness still out there.
Posted: Aug 12, 2009 Steve C.

At that point there probably was no choice other than to destroy the bears. One mature bears get habituated to human feeding they associate humans with easy food. The reports were that these bears were approaching her neighbors (sometimes aggressively) looking for handouts. The National Park Service used to have huge problems with aggressive bears when they had open garbage dumps, allowed people to feed bears, and conducted regular spectator-attended bear feedings. People who didn't have food to give out got attacked.

In Yosemite they've tried relocating problem bears away from Yosemite Valley. The younger ones might not come back, but many of the older ones seemed to make it back within a matter of days to raid campgrounds and cars.

In addition most zoos don't want to take in "problem bears".
Posted: Aug 12, 2009 y_p_w

Am I the only one that sees this as a crime against nature? The bears should NOT have been killed. This property and all of the familys wealth should be turned over to DNR to be put to good use. Sorry, no sympathy here for the family.
Posted: Aug 12, 2009 Larry Angrimson

Black bears frankly don't care enough for most to want to attack humans. Most have a healthy fear of humans. The problem is when they learn to associate humans with food and lose that fear.
Posted: Aug 12, 2009 y_p_w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV0hh1JdfuM
Posted: Aug 11, 2009 she got "munsoned"

Ted Alvarez is a bear expert?
Posted: Aug 11, 2009 Anonymous

Make no mistake about it, Mother Nature wants you dead, don�t try to kid yourself. There is no negotiating, no compromise, no quarter. Whether it�s a fresh winter snow or a cute furry bear, it was sent to kill the weak. If you spent your whole life living in NY, LA or Berkley you would never understand this.
Posted: Aug 11, 2009 Sheltiman