Jul 18, 2006 7:47 pm US/Mountain
Teens Educate Homeowners To Save Bears' Lives
by Andrea Lopez
VAIL, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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Katie and Ashley educating a Summit County resident.
CBS4
A group of teenagers in Summit County is spending their summer educating people about bears as part of the Colorado Division of Wildlife Bear Aware program.
The Division of Wildlife had to shoot two bears this summer after they broke into homes.
There is a two strike policy with bears, first they are relocated and if problem bears return they are destroyed.
"The main thing to do is bring your trash inside until the day of pickup," said Katie, a teen with Bear Aware.
The teenagers consider their work life-saving.
"I want to help out and I want to keep our wildlife here," Katie said.
"Save the bears and keep the trash in and keep them alive as long as we possibly can," said Ashley, a volunteer with Bear Aware.
Bears normally love tasty things like bird feeders and dirty barbeque grills but if they associate homes with food, they may break in whether someone is home or not. That will likely get them killed.
"We don't want all the bears to die because of what we have done," said a teenage volunteer.
Craig Boutenhoff said a young bear visits homes near him often.
"I've been four feet away and he'll hiss at me ... I'll go inside and get a pan and bang it and he'll usually take off then," Boutenhoff said.
Bears have become a problem in Vail and the town council will decide Tuesday whether to instate an emergency law cracking down on people who leave their trash out too long.
First time offenders of the new law could be fined $1,000 and serve up to 180 days in jail.
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