{"id":72236,"date":"2017-05-17T19:38:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T01:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bear-smashes-heavy-duty-coop-kills-six-chickens\/"},"modified":"2017-05-18T01:38:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T01:38:42","slug":"bear-smashes-heavy-duty-coop-kills-six-chickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bear-smashes-heavy-duty-coop-kills-six-chickens\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear smashes heavy-duty coop, kills six chickens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A bear broke into this chicken coop on the 1600 block of West Third Avenue last week, killing six chickens inside.<\/span>Courtesy of BearSmart<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Conversations have reignited over whether the city of Durango should allow electric fencing within town limits after a bear last week broke into a high-end chicken coop, killing six chickens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the best tool available for deterring bears from pretty much everything,\u201d Bryan Peterson, of BearSmart, said of electric fencing, which is barred in Durango city limits. \u201cThe bottom line is: if you allow residents to raise chickens and bees in town, then you also need to allow them the best means to protect their investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Jacob Kapp, who lives on the 1600 block of West Third Avenue, awoke around 2 a.m. when his dog started barking at something in the backyard.<\/p>\n

Kapp turned on the back porch light and saw part of a chicken carcass near the side door. With the scene seemingly clear of any threats, he and his wife went to check the damage, finding only feathers and chicken parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily we cleaned it up before the kids woke up,\u201d Kapp said. \u201cIt was carnage.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the family\u2019s first year keeping chickens, and Kapp said he purchased a $1,000-plus heavy duty chicken coop, called The Defender, knowing the risk bears pose to livestock in Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat thing is like an iron fortress,\u201d Kapp said. \u201cBut he punched a hole into the side door where they roost, ripped off the hinges and got to the chickens. He destroyed the thing,\u201d<\/p>\n

Kapp said his friends and neighbors had told him what he already knew: electric fencing is the best, and sometimes only, option to keep chickens and beehives safe.<\/p>\n

But a Durango city ordinance that dates to the 1960s prohibits the use of electric fencing and barbed wire within town limits. The city requires people who keep chickens to have a permit, and 10 people have permits, according to the city clerk.<\/p>\n

The Kapps said they did not have a permit and were not aware that one was required.<\/p>\n

Ron LeBlanc, Durango city manager, said \u201celectric fences are not compatible with urban environments,\u201d as they pose a risk to children and pets that may accidentally come into contact with the fence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would be the rationale?\u201d LeBlanc said of changing the city code, which would require City Council approval. \u201cWhy should the city impose a change to its policy just so someone can have chickens? The responsibility is for that person is to make a chicken coop that\u2019s bear proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, wildlife managers across the country maintain that electric fencing is the best way to reduce urban wildlife conflicts, and that it is possible for electric fences and urban environments to coexist.<\/p>\n

In Missoula, Montana, for instance, city code that also dated to the 1960s prohibited electric fencing. But after an uptick of human-bear conflicts, the city government last fall instituted a new regulation that allows electric fencing within a person\u2019s backyard, away from sidewalks or public rights of way.<\/p>\n

Jamie Jonkel, a bear manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, said the old fears and preconceived notions about electric fencing quickly dispersed once they proved their effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of our best fool-proof methods,\u201d he said. \u201cBears teach themselves rather than us teaching them to keep away because they shock themselves when they exhibit whatever behavior we don\u2019t want them to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonkel said he rarely hears of children that have been momentarily shocked from touching the electric fencing, but for the few that do, \u201cthey don\u2019t touch it a second time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if it\u2019s on someone\u2019s private property, inside their property, and their own kids touch it, well then that\u2019s a parenting issue,\u201d Jonkel said.<\/p>\n

A six-year Colorado Parks and Wildlife study on human-bear conflicts that concentrated on areas around Durango found that issues will continue to rise as the state\u2019s population is expected to hit 8.7 million to 10.3 million by 2050.<\/p>\n

In La Plata County, the population is expected to reach almost 62,000 by 2020, and nearly 75,000 by 2030. The forecasted population growth is accentuated when considering a state report that shows human-bear conflicts are growing 4 percent a year, twice as fast as the state\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

Matt Thorpe, a wildlife manager for CPW based in Durango, said the agency has suggested the city revise its codes in preparation of the forecasted conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the challenges within the city of Durango is that the most effective tool to protect backyard chickens and bees is an electric fence, which is prohibited by city codes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt limits us, and it limits public ability to protect those items.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thorpe said CPW does not plan any immediate action for the bear that killed the Kapp\u2019s chickens. Instead, the agency will continue to monitor the bear to see if it repeats unwanted, and potentially dangerous, behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully this bear will just move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

BearSmart\u2019s Peterson said he has advocated to Durango city staff and city councilors over the past few years to allow electric fencing in town limits, to no avail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were pretty adamant about not allowing it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

City Councilor Sweetie Marbury said she would not support allowing electric fencing in town limits, citing the concern they pose a danger to children.<\/p>\n

Councilor Dick White said he was unfamiliar with the issue. Councilors Chris Bettin, Dean Brookie and Melissa Youssef did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Incident raises questions on Durango\u2019s electric fence ban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1478,1332,21,13,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-72236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bear-smart","tag-bears","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72236"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=72236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}