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Illegal camping

Bears should not have to pay the price for Durango’s social problems

After the second instance of a bear biting humans, it should be clear that Durango has a problem. Exactly what that is, however, may be as hard to nail down as a solution.

At some point, though, it has to come down to curtailing the illegal camping going on around Durango. Allowing people to set up camp anywhere they want in bear country guarantees conflicts. And when those conflicts occur, the bear ultimately loses. What is happening now is testing whether there will be a human fatality, as well.

On the most basic level, we simply cannot have people being chewed on by bears. The authorities had no choice but to kill the bear that bit two men Sunday night and was, most likely, the same bear that bit two others in late May.

That the bear essentially was taught to misbehave – and effectively lured to its death – by careless people leaving trash and food lying about their campsite is terribly unfair to the bear. It also is well-understood. And to the extent that the community tolerates such illegal camping, we are complicit in the bear’s death.

The problem is not just what to do but who should do it. The incident Sunday occurred in an area near the Durango Tech Center known for illegal camping and home to multiple such campsites. The actual ownership of the land is unclear, but it is in an unincorporated part of La Plata County.

While technically the sheriff’s jurisdiction, Durango police responded because there was a 911 call, and they were close. Parks and Wildlife officers were notified because of the bear and Wildlife Services, part of the federal Department of Agriculture, helped track it.

But the wildlife folks have no jurisdiction over camping, the Durango police do not regularly patrol outside the city, and the Sheriff’s Office does not have the personnel to track every potential campsite around here. Sad as it is, killing the bear is simpler than dealing with the illegal camping that led to the problem.

It is not even clear what that might mean. Ticketing the homeless generally is unproductive. Sheriff’s deputies certainly could tell the campers to move on, but to where? Moving the campsite down the road is not much of a solution.

What is needed is a community-wide understanding as to what to do about illegal camping and a resultant agreement across jurisdictions as to how to implement that policy. That would have to involve multiple government agencies, as well as programs to help.

Such an effort cannot just involve the city police or the Sheriff’s Office, but it must include the element of enforcement. And it has to have a focus beyond sympathy for those less fortunate.

What needs to be targeted is not homelessness, but illegal camping and the accompanying trashing of public lands. There are programs, charities and churches that offer food and shelter. They could, of course, be better funded, but that in no way explains the proliferation of illegal campsites.

That is what should be addressed before a camper dies or more animals have to be killed. This is a human problem, and it simply is not right to continue to let the onus fall exclusively on the bears.



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