This year’s bear season, ranging from spring to late fall, has been “crazy” and “incredible,” said Bryan Peterson, director of Bear Smart Durango.
The season isn’t over yet, and so it’s unclear how bear activity will compare to that of 2017, which Peterson said has been the area’s “worst bear season so far.”
But the season has been bad enough to revive calls on the city to allow residents to deploy electric fencing and mats to deter bears, which have raided garbage cans and fruit trees as they bulk up in preparation for torpor.
Peterson said Bear Smart has received 293 reports of bear sightings or bear activity for Durango and La Plata County so far this year.
Resident Rachel Turiel said at a City Council meeting on Tuesday she has planted about 10 fruit trees in her yard over the years, and a bear recently ripped down a branch of one of her pear trees and returned the next night to demolish her apple tree.
“I would love to be able to protect the trees that we’ve put so much time and love and resources into,” she said.
The ability to put up a temporary electric fence when bears are looking to stock up ahead of winter would do.
La Plata County resident and Durango business owner Corbet Hoover said he’s passionate about the bear problem countywide, including in Durango where his child attends Durango High School.
Allowing electric fencing is just common sense, he said. Electric fences are already deployed on thousands of properties across the county and Colorado, including agricultural and residential properties. Fences don’t start fires and can be used on a temporary basis.
The residents’ request for allowance to use electric fences is not a controversial one, City Councilor Kip Koso said on Tuesday.
“This is a rare issue that really has zero negative feedback and nothing but positive affirmation from residents,” he said. “It’s been successfully used in La Plata County for years and years with thousands of electric fences in place.”
City Council voted to request a presentation about the city’s options for modifying city code to allow electric fences and electric mats within city limits. Mayor Gilda Yazzie voted against the resolution.
City Manager José Madrigal said the presentation will explain how bear fencing works and will examine how other communities have implemented bear deterrence.
Bear Smart has installed 39 electric fences in La Plata County this season, mostly since July 1, Peterson said. It’s also lent many electric bear mats, bear-resistant canisters and electric netting.
“Electricity with bears has been one of the greatest breakthroughs in helping (to) mitigate human bear conflict,” he said.
Bears quickly learn to avoid electric fences and mats, he said, and they’ve been documented to avoid electric mats months and even a year after being shocked by one.
While they are strong deterrents, they pose no safety risk to people or pets, nor are they fire starters, he said.
City spokesman Tom Sluis told The Durango Herald in August the city’s restriction on electric bear deterrents dates back to 1960s city code, and getting it changed is a political matter that requires a public process through official channels – such as City Council.
cburney@durangoherald.com
