Bill Williams is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officers are looking into an attack by a black bear on a pet donkey, that left the donkey dead. The incident occurred in Claverack, during the early morning hours of Oct. 4, said DEC spokesperson Regina Willis. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office initially responded to the scene, at a home on Shasta Drive. Those officers then requested the DEC investigate. The donkey was killed in an enclosed, fenced-in area on the property. The bear later returned to the scene that night and cornered three other donkeys n the pen, before the owner was able to scare the bear off, Willis said. The owner ran out of the house yelling at the bear; it ran and jumped a five-foot-high fence and left the property. However, Willis said the animal may still be in the area. "To the DEC’s knowledge the bear is still on the landscape,” she said. Instances of black bears attacking livestock is rare, but DEC does occasionally get calls about it happening, Willis said. Shasta Drive, located of Fish and Game Road, is a short rural, residential road, with fewer than 10 homes. DEC advises residents that encounter a black bear to use noise to scare them away, stay calm, and leave slowly.; don’t: approach, surround, or corner a bear; run from a bear; or throw anything at an approaching bear. If the bear is encountered in a building: provide it with an exit and leave the doors open. If a bear approaches, speak in a loud, calm voice with arms raised, while backing away. And if a bear makes contact, fight back with anything at hand. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.