The city of Boulder has released a draft wildlife management plan to address black bear and mountain lion sightings within the city.  One emphasis of the plan is working with neighborhoods to monitor trash to avoid attracting bears. In 2010, trash was identified as an attractant in 39 instances, or about 30 percent of sightings.  Under the management plan, city officials would check trash in areas where bears have been spotted to look for signs of bear activity. The city also will be encouraging residents to get more bear-resistant trash bins.

Valerie Matheson, Boulder's urban wildlife coordinator, said the patrols will help compile more data on bear activity, as opposed to relying on reported sightings. "This will help us see where they are and what containers they are knocking over," she said. "Right now, our database is just based on reports, and I actually think bear sightings are probably under-reported. This will help us get more objective data."

In addition to bears, the plan calls for more education on mountain lions. Matheson said that since attractants and prey for mountain lions are harder to control, the management plan seeks to educate people on how to react to mountain lion sightings. "With mountain lions, managing what brings them into Boulder is harder," she said. "We felt like the best thing to do was to educate residents so they can co-exist with the lions."
The city hopes to start a website that will post information on bear and mountain lion sightings as well as information about what to do when they are encountered in the city

Are the lions that are moving and hunting near homes and people in the city becoming so habituated to people that they pose an elevated risk? If a lion is brazen enough to kill a pet in a backyard, isn’t its next logical prey a human?



Numbers have shown that throughout their range, lions choose to prey on deer and other four legged animals and despite ample opportunity, not on humans. For us, it is more logical to think of our pets as a member of our human family, but to a lion, your dog shares much more in common with a normal prey item such as a raccoon.


The Cougar Management Guidelines Working Group stated in 2005 that there was no scientific evidence to indicate that cougar habituation to humans affects the risk of attack. So while mountain lions may be more visible in the Ccty and pets are certainly at an elevated risk, there is nothing to suggest that this habituation increases the existing risk to people from mountain lions.






.