TWO BEARS EUTHANIZED AFTER ATTACK
Wildlife officials say two bears were euthanized after a man was attacked at a campground in southwest Colorado.
The Durango Herald reported Thursday the man, who is from out of state, was camping south of Pagosa Springs on July 2 when he heard something outside his tent. Matt Thorpe with Colorado Parks and Wildlife says “the next thing he knows, the bear claws in and bites him.”
The man, whose name hasn’t been released, was treated for minor puncture wounds.
Two bears with the same color hair that was found at the campsite were tracked down and euthanized out of an abundance of caution, and DNA and saliva samples were sent to a lab in Wyoming to make sure they didn’t have rabies.
Wildlife officials confirmed that one of the bears attacked the man.
Man wins third time in retaliatory speech lawsuit.
JUNCTION» A GRAND court has rejected a third attempt by a Texas energy firm to punish an environmental activist for exercising his free speech rights.
The Daily Sentinel reported that a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals denied a petition by SGI Interests to have the full court consider a complaint against Paonia resident Pete Kolbenschlag.
SGI sued Kolbenschlag for libel in 2017 after he posted comments about its activities on public lands on the website of the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.
In June, the appeals panel upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the complaint as frivolous. On Thursday, it published its June ruling to add to legal precedent.
The case helped lead to a new Colorado law to protect citizens from lawsuits intended to stifle their First Amendment rights.
Virus making horses ill spreads to 11 Colorado counties; Larimer hit hardest.
A virus making horses ill in Colorado has been found in 11 counties; Larimer County is the hardest-hit area, with 70 confirmed cases of vesicular stomatitis.
Other counties are Adams, Archuleta, Boulder, Broomfield, Delta, La Plata, Mesa, Montezuma, Morgan and Weld, according to a Colorado Department of Agriculture news release.
Vesicular stomatitis can make eating and drinking painful for the horses, and they and other animals that may be stricken are quarantined. One bovine case in Boulder County has been confirmed.
Boulder County has logged 40 confirmed cases, and Weld County 29 cases, state officials said. The other counties had lower numbers as of Friday.
The first case of vesicular stomatitis in Colorado this year was reported July 3 in Weld County. There are no USDA-approved vaccines for the virus, which likely is spread by insects.
Suspects linked to more than 30 burglary, theft cases across Front Range.
BOULDER» Two men have been identified as suspects in almost 40 vehicle theft and burglary cases across the Front Range.
Matthew Moore, 25, and Tanner Valdez, 26, are facing 67 charges, including various counts of theft, burglary, vehicular eluding, possession of a controlled substance, identity theft, stolen license plates, vehicle theft, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, possession of burglary tools and vehicle trespass.
According to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Moore and Valdez were connected to 39 cases being investigated by various agencies in Boulder County.
Warrants were issued for both on July 10. Moore was arrested by Wheat Ridge police July 17 in a vehicle that was reported stolen out of Erie. He was transferred to the Boulder County Jail.
Valdez was in custody at the Colorado Department of Corrections for a fiveyear prison sentence on a motor vehicle theft case.