Page 18 - Sentinel May 2017

BEARY Continued from page 17 Many of you have reported purchasing “bear proof” garbage
containers this year. Thank you for investing in our mutual
You are seeing us more not because there are more of us, but safety and helping keep us black bears healthier. For you bear
because there are more of you living in and exploring areas we proof container hold outs; you may see more bear activity as
call home.
the number of easy food targets continues to decrease in your
neighborhood.
Researchers also recently observed that we black bears who
dine on your garbage may not become addicted to it as pre- I look forward to seeing you soon... from a good safe distance.
viously believed. The team determined that bears eat human
food when necessary (or easily available) to boost their weight Your Friend,
for reproduction and hibernation, but switch back to their natu- Beary
ral diet when possible. Of course, this doesn’t explain why I
obsess over pasta leftovers and will stroll right past a pile of
acorns for an uneaten portion of Mamma Rosa’s frozen lasagna
in the bottom of your garbage can. I figure the nuts will always A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
be there, the pasta... not so much. Susan Peters...
However, the common belief that we bears may not be able to
rehab ourselves to eat a natural bear diet once we have dined Euphoria!... Those Dang
on yours is being questioned due to recent study results. This Woodpeckers
new evidence is challenging the current two-strikes policy of Spring!
euthanizing “food-conditioned” bears. Currently, Colorado
Parks and Wildlife follows a “two-strike” policy of tagging and Officially! And we managed
relocating them once; second offenders can be killed. For the to squeeze in a few life-giving
record: personally, I’m all for a change to a three-strike policy snowstorms for the trees and
like in baseball. Or maybe even five fouls before being benched vegetation that sustain life, AND the first hummingbird right
like in basketball. after the toad flax bloomed, April 2nd . The earliest I have seen
for the toad flax. My tried and true observance is that within
What can you do to help? one or two days of the toad flax blooming, we have humming-
• Bear guard your garbage and other food sources like there birds return.
is a reward for it, because there is. Knowing that you are keep-
ing us healthier and safer is reward in itself. During the recent I scrambled to make hummer food (recall – 1 cup of sugar to 4
bear study, Colorado Parks & Wildlife officials worked with cups of water, dissolved well - forget the red dye stuff.)
Durango officials to put bear-proof trash cans at homes in
some neighborhoods. They found that this reduced bear-human The next day we had a heavy snow storm. It melted quickly
conflicts. In areas without bear-proof cans, conflicts increased and the toad flax bounced right back, followed by two more
sharply. storms.

• Do not feed us intentionally; it’s the law. Report offend- The next week started the hummer sightings in the Palmer Lake
ers to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Division and local law area. It took still another week for me to see our first. And curi-
enforcement agencies. ously it was a female broadtail. In the past for over 20 years,
it has been a male scout, getting in position to welcome the
babes.

The birdy version of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the wild-
flowers popping, our Dutch tulips we bought at the Keukenhof
gardens in the Netherlands emerging in their new flower bed,
just for them, the fragrant Oriental lilac already budding...Wow!
This is my euphoria!

The koi are active, being primed for mating season. Too bad
there are not enough left to do proper mating. Dang raccoons,
and all they did is eat the brains of each fish before discarding
it.

• When you see us close to your home, make as much noise I will have to say back east in the D.C. area, fall was my favor-
as possible to scare the scat out of us so we run away. It’s im- ite season. Taking walks where the crunch and smell of fallen
portant to our mutual safety that we are as fearful of you as you leaves invigorated me. The temperate season is much longer
are of us. there. The fall relieves the heat and humidity of the summer
Continued on page 19
Page 18 - May 2017 Perry Park Sentinel