I just got through reading the front-page article about the recent bear attacks here (Herald, June 2.) I live on the west side, right next to Overend Mountain Park, and bears are routine for our neighborhood. Residents in our area have generally done their best to minimize conflicts, but we get bears on a daily basis during peak months. We have been thoroughly educated by the local bear advocacy/education center, and recently, Parks and Wildlife has sent surveys in an effort to understand the bear issue here as part of a plan to deal with increasing bear-human encounters.
But then you see the picture of the illegal camp right there on the front-page, and it just slams you in the face. Everybody knows that illegal camping is going on, but nothing has ever been done. It is not just one camp; it is a veritable community, and this type of behavior is precisely what creates bad bear behavior.
Does anyone out there recall the Yellowstone bears of the 1960s, when trash was dumped in open pits? We can do all the talking and educating we want, but if people are living in tents west of town, literally sitting on a trash dump, this is what we get.
Thank God no one in that party was killed this time. Those bears are coming into all of our neighborhoods, and it is just a matter of time before a tragedy occurs in our backyard. This is a real big problem, and I, for one, want to see the issue dealt with in the same fervor as homeless panhandling or parking.
Jim Pitts
Durango
