We have a complex relationship with our neighboring black bears. We love to see them, whether it is a solo male spotted near a trail at Junction Creek, or a mother with cubs under an apple tree at the edge of town.

There’s a certain cachet in Colorado to sighting or being visited by a bear. We shoot photos and videos and share them enthusiastically, as if the animals bring something special to the witness, a gift or some sort of rare bruin blessing.

We love them even when they are mischievous, as in this note from Jonathan “Andy” Morrow of Forest Lakes, who sent photos earlier this year of a striking blond bear ambling through his property: “First he got into my Land Rover and muddied it up, and today …he knocked over my smoker.”

We should be more mindful of our perceptions of bears, and of how those perceptions often put them at risk.

Read more at The Durango Herald.