Cow chases black bear in Colorado

As any good rancher or farmer can tell you, watching animals is endlessly fascinating and a frequent source of surprise.

That was the case Sunday in Hygiene, Colorado, a rapidly suburbanizing outpost in the foothills west of Longmont. A family there has a cow in a small pasture named Apple, which they describe as more of a pet. She's named Apple, because she loves to eat the fruit off the trees surrounding her pasture.

Sunday, neighbor Penny Cox photographed a black bear in the apple tree the cow eats from. It came down, and the cow and bear went nose-to-nose in a playful pose. Apple then chased the bear the length of the pasture, as the bear ran away. Cox was unable to say if Apple chased the bear away because it was in her tree, or if she just enjoyed playing with him.

Colorado has increasingly serious problems with a large black bear population, since several years ago the voters inexplicably passed a state constitutional amendment, no less, outlawing the spring hunting season on black bears. The population therefore, has grown rapidly, and black bear sightings are increasingly common along the urban front range of Colorado, in areas near the mountains like Hygiene.

In dry years, like this one, when the wild food supply is weak, the heavy population of black bears increasingly seek out garbage cans and other food on the front range, before heading off into winter hibernation. The antics of black bears are adorable, but one forgets that they are vicious, wild animals at their own peril.

The law of unintended consequences has definitely followed the ill-advised sellout by Colorado voters to the animal rights extremists a few years ago.