DOW Agents Find Bear Devouring Elderly Woman

The Denver Channel ^ | August 7, 2009 | staff

[Baladas]

OURAY, Colo. -- A bear was found Friday devouring the body of a 73-year-old woman who had been repeatedly asked not to feed the bears, the Division of Wildlife said.

A caretaker saw the bear feeding on the woman's body as she lay outside of her home, just north of Ouray. The caretaker called 911 and dispatchers reported the incident to the DOW.

While it's unclear if she was killed by the bear or died of other causes, there were wounds from an animal found on her body, DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said.

Lewandowski said the woman was known to feed bears dog food for years and would not stop, even after repeated requests from the DOW.

While sheriff's deputies were at the woman's home investigating the report of the mauling, an aggressive bear approached them so they killed it. The 250-pound male bear will be taken to the Colorado State Veterinary office, where a necropsy will be performed and its stomach contents will be examined and analyzed.

The victim's name is not being released until her family is notified.

The Montrose Memorial Hospital will conduct the autopsy on the woman and results should be released by noon Saturday, the DOW said.

"There have been a lot of bears that have been habituated to dog food. Once this happens you cannot relocate them," Lewandowski said. "Once bears are accustomed to the food, there is no getting them off it. The bears will keep coming back."

[Jeff Head]

His name was Tim Treadwell. There's an excellent, thorough examination of what happend to him at this site.

[BunnySlippers]

Timothy Treadwell. “Grizzly Man” ... a very good movie.

[Loyalist]

The bear is missing, presumed fed.

[parsifal]

Thx! In the meantime, you guys might like this: parsy, who has a copy of this

[OldDeckHand]

I’m surprised it took 73 years for Darwin’s Laws to catch up with this woman.

[OldCorps]

never trust an attention starved man who dies his hair.

[OldDeckHand]

"Yep, bears are our friends. Trust me."

There are two kinds of bears - Bears that have eaten men, and bears that haven't eaten men, yet.

[hinckley buzzard]

This could be a creative new amendment to Obamacare...subsidize pet-food allocation to elderly demented nature lovers. This is one lady who won't be needing an expensive nursing home on the taxpayer tab..

[Felis_irritable]

Anthropomorphism and large, powerful critters. A sure ticket to a long, happy life.

[parsifal]

Damn! That was a great link! I read it. Fascinating. AbFab. Thx.

parsy, who feeds raccoons nightly and is now going to be suspicious of the little critters

[ReluctantDragon]

Yes it is. Made by Werner Herzog. Poor Mr. Treadwell tried to live among the grizzly bears and got himself and his girlfriend killed. He didn’t seem to realize that the bears were wild animals.

[thecabal]

It’s poetic justice that he ended up in a grizzly’s intestinal tract, but I do feel a little bad for his extremely naive girlfriend.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Stupidity on the part of both parties involved.

The late woman, of course, automatically advances to the Darwin Award semi-final round.

But the bear wasn't too bright, either. To mix a metaphor, he killed the goose who laid golden eggs. The endless supply of yummy dog food has been cut off forever, for a couple of bites of stringy old woman flesh.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Here’s the proper way to treat a bear,

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-828073110265531460

[JLS]

Unless it turns out she had a stroke or heart attack and died feeding her favorite bears. Then the woman just died and the bear took a couple of bites of the former meal ticket and cost itself nothing.

[coloradan]

A bear was found Friday devouring the body of a 73-year-old woman who had been repeatedly asked not to feed the bears,

Even in death this woman defies the authorities.

[blam]

"Reminds me of the "Bear man" who was eaten by the Kodiak bears in Alaska...along with his poor girl freind. "

Yes...I heard the audio of that incident.

[Falconspeed]

Each year, when Tim set camp within Katmai National Park, he voluntarily became a member of the food chain.

Thank you for the excellent link.

[count-your-change]

And some of it was caught on camera. I guess the bear didn’t believe bears were harmless.

[Gondring]

Darwin Award candidate!

Methinks not. Check her age again.