Autopsy: Bear Killed Woman who Fed Animals

(AP)  A 74-year-old woman who was known for leaving food outside her home for bears - despite several warnings that it was illegal and dangerous to do so - was killed by one of the animals, an autopsy confirmed.

Donna Munson's body had been partially eaten by a bear or bears when it was found outside her home in Ouray County, in southwestern Colorado, on Friday, but Colorado Division of Wildlife officials couldn't immediately confirm what caused her death.

County Sheriff Dominic Mattivi said Monday that an autopsy, performed in neighboring Montrose County, showed Munson had scratches and maul marks consistent with being attacked by a bear. She had no signs of heart damage, ruling out the possibility that she died of a heart attack before being attacked, Mattivi said.

State wildlife officers had received "numerous" complaints during the past decade that Munson was feeding bears. But she never was ticketed, partly because wooded hills around her property made it hard to gather evidence to prove it, said division spokesman Tyler Baskfield.

"It's a well-known fact that people were feeding (bears) at this residence," Baskfield said.

A letter from the Division of Wildlife to Munson dated April 7, 2008, said officers talked with her at least three times between July 22, 2004 and Sept. 13, 2007, about Colorado laws that prohibit placing feed out for bears.

Baskfield said Munson started ignoring wildlife officers' calls and stopped letting them on her property, and views from neighbors' homes were obscured by the foliage.

Authorities aren't sure whether the bear that killed Munson is still roaming the neighborhood.

Sheriff's deputies investigating Munson's death shot a 250-pound bear that aggressively approached them Saturday, and wildlife officers killed a 394-pound bear. A necropsy showed that the larger bear appeared to have been feeding on a human, but Mattivi said that he's asked officials at the University of Wyoming to confirm that. It's not known if that's the bear that killed Munson.

Witnesses have spotted up to 14 bears at a time around Munson's property over the years, wildlife officials said.

One of Munson's daughters, Melanie Allum-Milne, told The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction that her mother loved animals and was starting to get dementia.

Baskfield said wildlife lovers may believe they are helping bears by feeding them, but the opposite is true. Feeding bears can teach them to look for food around humans, he said.

It increases the risk that bears could confront humans, enter homes, or be killed by cars as they look for food. "They are no longer wild animals at that point. They're no longer behaving the way they should," Baskfield said.

Feeding bears is punishable with a $100 fine for a first offense or a $1,000 fine for a third offense. Baskfield said it's unclear if that would have deterred Munson.

[erasmus111]

by hamiltongrad August 11, 2009 3:19 AM EDT
no more bears

I beleive that the state should hunt down and kill all the bears in the area, or at least set out poison traps, and set about to free this area of these beasts. Just like Florida has finally dispatched the aligoators from most of the swampy areas, so too must Colorado here , in the cities, farm lands and flat territories, once and for all make it safe for us human , tax payers.

enough is eough


by gramto8 August 11, 2009 6:05 AM EDT
You are one sick person! How can you sit there and believe that this world is for humans and no other life form? We would die if there were nothing else here. Please don't come back with your usual 'I'm a professor' BS either. I don't believe it.


Hamiltongrad, I agree with gramto8.

There is no way that someone that is as ignorant as you, could be a Professor of anything.

And far be it from me to put down someone about their spelling, because I am far from perfect, but isn't spelling and knowing how to talk properly a requirement for being a Professor? : )

[erasmus111]

by gramto8 August 11, 2009 6:06 AM EDT

She probably felt they were her babies.


Hahaha, could be. : )

[cameraphone]

Boo Boo, no more picnic baskets for us! Yogi

[barbaram99]

humans are moving into their spaces. There are many different lifeforms on this plant besige us humans beingd. The lady was warned not to feed the bears. Yet she did so. It cost her her life. Sad but true, Ye go to the zoo and ye not allowed to feed the animals. It is the same in the wild. It was wrong of this lady. She got thrm use to her feesing them and my guess the food was not there and being bears ate her. It sould cold. That is what wild animals do. It take alot book learning to be in the know. It does take common sense. People should know better. She knew better and was warned. She willfully disobeyed.
Today we need to outlaw the practise the implanting so many babies to be in women. It is not natural. That woman having 8 babies at one time. Humans are moving into the animals home areas. It humans not the animals.
The people are the prbblem. I don't care if yer a tax payer,some fancy teacher at a college. Get in the know. Have fewer babies, Did it ever dawn on ye that humans pare of the animal kingdom. We are. We know better, That lady was dumb. Her death should a lesson to others.
DON'T FEED WILD ANIMALS.

[bobeanie]

You people are so sick,good way to go,!! How would you like a bears teeth tearing through your flesh and claws ripping you apart while you were still alive.Tell that to people who have survived bear attacks and see if they think it's a good way to go.I wouldn't wish that kind of death on anyone.Let alone a poor defenceless old woman.God forgive you, idiots!!!

[dukeudevil]

Sometimes you eat the bear; sometimes the bear eats you.

[MorganBarber44]

Thats right. Plenty of bear hunters have had the creepy feeling that the bear they are tracking is also tracking them.

[glaring_falsehoods]

I?m no wildlife expert, but to a hungry bear, a human being is quite likely to be considered food.

Isn't it therefore common sense to avoid them for that, if no other, reason?

[MorganBarber44]

Darwin works in mysterious ways.

[hamiltongrad]

no more bears

I beleive that the state should hunt down and kill all the bears in the area, or at least set out poison traps, and set about to free this area of these beasts. Just like Florida has finally dispatched the aligoators from most of the swampy areas, so too must Colorado here , in the cities, farm lands and flat territories, once and for all make it safe for us human , tax payers.

enough is eough

[gramto8]

You are one sick person! How can you sit there and believe that this world is for humans and no other life form? We would die if there were nothing else here. Please don't come back with your usual 'I'm a professor' BS either. I don't believe it.

[AK-47_Justice]

Seems as if most conservatives live with such a sickness, 'thinking' they are the only ones on this planet of a varied habitat. We have many preditors like mountain lions, bobcats and lynx besides the bears, that poison traps would affect. We must respect their diminishing habitat due to a growing and denser population.

The older woman was making this problem worse over a decade before her dementia, even if bears are creatures of opportunity. It's a well-known fact here in Colorado that feeding wild animals like elk, deer and bear is illegal, and I have a feeling that the DOW will release some pertinent press releases on this subject soon.

BTW, the alligators in FL are still flourishing and hardly 'dispatched,' despite the growing population of the state.

[erasmus111]

"Feeding bears is punishable with a $100 fine for a first offense or a $1,000 fine for a third offense. Baskfield said it's unclear if that would have deterred Munson."


Well, unless she was rich, I'm sure it would have.


"But she never was ticketed, partly because wooded hills around her property made it hard to gather evidence to prove it..."


I'm quite sure that they could have gathered evidence if they chose too. They obviously were not doing their jobs.

This women loved animals, but because of her, two bears had to be shot.

[gramto8]

erasmus,

With her dementia, she might have paid or she might have just left the ticket laying on the table. Either way, she probably would have kept feeding the bears. She probably felt they were her babies.

[mijomar-2009]

being an animal lover and understanding the rational for the rules regarding feeding wild animals, I can understand her passion for feeding the bears. She, as did the gentleman in Alaska, felt ' at one ' with the wildness, almost a privilege to be able ot interface one on one with these animals...often getting a feeling of special relationshhip with individual bears...and yet knowing that there is always the possibility of being attacked. She made the choice somewhere along the line during her relationships with various animals, and accepted the risk. Simply said, life is not fair. The concept of fairness implies and understanding on both sides of the realtionship so with wild animals, remember that its a one sided relationship.

[democratic_1]

When will these people learn? Hopefully before they become snack food for the bears. This reminds me of the fellow in Alaska where both he and his girl friend were eaten by grizzlies. I watched his tv show once and I said to my wife he is going to be food sooner or later.
And to leonni021, why kill the bears, they did nothing wrong. It was stupid women 0, smart bear 1. They won't have to waste postage sending her cease and desist orders again.

[gramto8]

What is with the 'stupid women' bit here? There is a big difference between 'stupid' and dementia. The only thing 'stupid' is that this woman was left on her own without someone to watch her. That should never have happened if it was known that she was losing it. The blame goes to whomever should have seen to that.

[texanforlogi]

The "stupid" comes about because she's been feeding the bears for years before the dementia set in. That's why she had her porch metal-screened. She regularly (and defiantly) fed the bears. To the end of her life she fed the bears. Fine for her, bad for the neighbors and bears.