Colorado

Colorado is a State and previous Territory of the United States. Its borders haven't shifted much since its upgrade. Colorado has large swaths of desert and scrubland on the west and south, coniferous and pinyon forests along its Rocky Mountains, and plains to the east. It also has many microclimates amongst its mountains and valleys. Denver, it's capitol, is erroneously described as more arid than it really is. It rarely rains, but it does snow, and it's "300 days" of sunny days is inaccurate due to the high cloud volume. Most days are partially cloudy with the clouds not fully obscuring the sun and not enough wind to cause them to blow over and from it. South of it to Colorado Springs, one of the widest sprawled cities in the United States, is settled in both forest and plains climates. Into the smaller northern cities above Denver are the remnants of wetland, as indicated by the tall grasses on the lakes that red-shouldered blackbirds cling to and white pelicans (rarely) swim in. Up into Boulder the climate becomes more misty, almost rainforest like, but the mountains next to it are general coniferous forests of the rocky mountains. And of course there's more that I haven't explored. Due to this reason it's important to keep in mind that, while the mammal populations are generally the same on the rocky mountains and eastern cities next to them, the insect and bird populations can be very different from town to town.

Colorado has a hiking culture in a region where wild elk, moose, cougars, black bears, and coyotes roam. As a result hikers are asked to take precautions when going into the mountains. Additionally, rattlesnakes exist on both sides of the mountains.

## Attacks

**Cougars** Within the past couple of years a large population of cougars displaced by a dam started attacking dogs. Some news reports victim blamed the victims, many of whom were people who lived in the mountains for many years in harmony with cougars. The cougars attacked dogs straight off of their leashes on porches and in yards, some died and some didn't. One man, an ex-sportman of some famous team, killed a large male and all the attacks stopped. Some people are upset at him having hunted and displayed the body of this male cougar found under a friend's porch, but even if it died, I think good has come out of it. The strange cougar behavior from the others (and that male, as he's dead) has stopped. Dogs are safe again. The reason why it went on so long is that cougars can be hunted down for sport, if they kill livestock, or if they kill humans. However, dogs are counted as a different sort of property from livestock and while pet owners feel like their lives are almost worth that of a human (or better), they legally aren't humans and thus the government decided to not get involved in the way the towns terrorized wanted them to do.

I'm sort of frustrated by this, as it shows that guard dogs are only as useful as the cougars are cowardly. Though perhaps pets are not as fierce in the moment as dogs raised by a bunch of sheep, I get the feeling that a lot of sheep owners (not that there's many in Colorado, as alpacas are preferable) are not going to trust in guard dogs to defend their sheep. The cougars attacked large dog breeds known for their thick fluff and aggression, so I think it's fair to say that there's a deep psychological thing at play here, between guard dogs and predatory animals. Though these weren't livestock situations, it suggests that if cougars became braver and more aggressive in general, guard dogs wouldn't stand a chance. Cougars that fear dogs do so erroneously, as a result of an upbringing that leads them to become more cautious around potential threats, and thus don't unleash their true potential.

**Elk** Estes Park is known for having elk roam the city during the breeding season. As a result, moody males and females sometimes attack people. Tourists may bug the elk, earning them an attack.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colorado\_Territory&oldid=1192371219