Click here for more articles
 Bear trapped on CR509 near Bayfield
8/17/2007 By: Melanie B Mazur
Vallecito has bears.
Forest Lakes has bears.
County Road 509, which runs through hayfields lying between Bayfield and Ignacio, is not known for having lots of bears.
Until Tuesday, when one was caught on the Semler Farm.
A bear had killed about 20 chickens the week before when the family was at the county fair, so Colorado Division of Wildlife officials came and set a trap for it, baiting it with chickens and apples.
On Tuesday morning, the Semlers woke up to a big racket and found the full-grown black bear in the trap.
Drayton Harrison, a CDOW officer, came to retrieve it Tuesday morning. He said with a freeze on oak trees this spring, and bears moving into their prime feeding season before hibernation, many have been moving into lower country than usual to find food.
Wayne Semler said a gas crew working in a wooded area behind his house earlier this summer had reported seeing a bear, but he had dismissed the idea, never having seen a bear in the area.
Patt Dorsey, a CDOW manager in Durango, said the bear was tagged, which the division requires so it can track problem bears, and was relocated north of Dolores. CDOW tries to move bears as far away as possible with the hopes that they won’t return and have to be relocated again, she said. The Semlers said that’s all of the bear excitement they hope to have this summer.
|
