< PREVIOUS ] [ 1993 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
Granted, the big news last week was the papal visit, but hereabouts, bear stories dominate conversation.
Given a choice, I'd take the pilgrimage, which should improve Colorado's reputation.
For one thing, Denver seemed to handle the throngs well. I expected gridlock or worse at the airport Thursday morning. But the journey went smoothly, and we were all home by noon, less one daughter who called 18 hours later to say she had arrived in Reykjavik.
For another, we turned on the tube one evening and saw two men in flowing outfits that resembled dresses. They kissed each other and said they loved each other, and did so in front of a full house at Mile High Stadium. After that, how could anyone call Colorado the Hate State?
And, given the thousands who suffered dehydration Sunday, with the entire world watching, who could argue against more water projects for Colorado? Animas-La Plata, Savery-Pothook, Two Forks, Elephant Rock -- if our congressional delegation wants to bring home some pork, this is the time to act.
Sure, there was a mountain of trash at Cherry Creek State Park, but that will be cleaned, and most of the pilgrims have already left. It's over.
You can't say that about bears. They remain with us, even if the Division of Wildlife has nailed the black bear which killed Collin McClelland north of Cotopaxi last week.
In the Colorado I grew up in, bears were mythic
creatures. No one I knew had ever actually seen one. The
first time I saw one -- in 1984, ripping open a bag of dog
food atop a picnic table at a campground near Fairplay --
my first thought was why is some guy wandering around
here in a bear costume?
A real bear was
inconceivable.
Now bears appear almost daily. My brother saw one
crossing the highway at Kenosha Pass last May. Two years
ago, the crew had to chase two bears out of a cabin under
construction near where the logger died. We read of the
yuppie bear
with a taste for gourmet delicacies, and
a bear rambled through downtown Salida in broad daylight a
few years ago. In the face of increasing ursine ingenuity,
Vail's trash company has been trying to develop a
bear-proof dumpster.
Why all the bears? Perhaps the law of unintended consequences is at work again.
Fifteen years ago, dogs were the major animal problem in the mountains. Feral packs ran down deer and loose mongrels infested every mountain town, tipping trash cans and pursuing pedestrians. After dogs killed a child in Breckenridge in 1977, towns and counties hastened to pass and enforce strict dog-control laws.
The laws worked. It's been a long time since I've seen a loose dog anywhere in the mountains. But nobody realized that the dogs kept the bears away, and without the dogs, the bears would return.
Nobody wants roaming packs of dogs, and nobody wants more bear attacks, either. That dilemma won't go away, unlike the pope, president, and pilgrims.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 1993 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >