This story is shocking, but it may help Mountain Community residents who are tempted to feed bears to reconsider. –Editor

By Jennifer Brown, Special from The Denver Post

In the evenings, Donna Munson liked to sit in front of her picture window to watch the black bears amble toward her southwestern Colorado log cabin for dinner.

The 74-year-old woman—who stocked her backyard with dog food, fruit and yogurt—was found dead outside her home, being eaten by a bear [in 2009].

It was unknown for two days whether a bear killed her, or whether one or more animals consumed part of her body after…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

A compulsion to feed wildlife isn’t confined to the Mountain Communities. Wildlife officials say Donna Munson, 74 of Ouray County in Colorado built a metal fence covering her porch so she could feed bears through it (shown here, with investigators). Munson was found dead outside her home in 2009. [Division of Wildlife, Colorado]

Family and friends agreed: Donna Munson was a very sweet woman who loved animals. The afternoon she was killed, she was trying to help a young bear with broken teeth that had tangled with a large male.

Four bears were killed on her land, all for not showing a natural fear instinct toward humans. One, a 394 pound male, had eaten parts of Munson’s shirt and some of her body.

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This is part of the August 19, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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