In the evenings, Donna Munson liked to sit in front of her picture window and watch the bears amble toward her Ouray County log cabin for dinner.

The 74-year-old woman — who stocked her backyard with dog food, fruit and yogurt — was found dead outside her home Friday, being eaten by a bear.

It was still unknown Saturday whether a bear killed Munson or whether one or more animals consumed part of her body after her death. But people who knew her said she was an eccentric wildlife lover who had been feeding bears, elk, skunks and raccoons for years.

Munson, who rented half of her home in southwestern Colorado to several people over the years, told one of them that “when the time came, she wanted to go out with the bears.”

“She was a very sweet lady,” said Tammy York of Paonia, who rented part of Munson’s house several years ago. “She just loved nature. She probably shouldn’t have been alone out there in her state.”

Colorado Division of Wildlife agents had asked Munson so many times over the past decade to stop feeding bears that she quit taking their phone calls or accepting their certified letters and tried to ban them from her property.

Neighbors complained about a growing number of bears in the hills, ransacking trash cans and even trying to break into houses this summer. Still, Munson kept feeding the bears.

Two of the bruins were shot and killed by Ouray County sheriff’s deputies Friday while they investigated Munson’s death. Deputies said the animals were threatening and had no fear of people.

Two other bears were captured and euthanized in July after a caretaker at Munson’s cabin complained they were too aggressive. Division of Wildlife authorities caught them both the first day they set traps.

“We tried to do everything possible to gain her cooperation,” said Tyler Baskfield, DOW spokesman. “Obviously, this is a situation that everybody feels bad about, but it illustrates what can happen.”

Bears fed by humans lose their instinct to fear people and “they expect that food source to continue,” he said.

“Not only are you putting yourself at risk, you’re putting anyone else who may come in contact with that animal at risk because they are expecting a handout,” Baskfield said.

The night before her death, Munson planned to feed an injured baby bear hard-boiled eggs and yogurt, another former tenant said. And she had planned to swat a large bear that was bothering the baby bear with a broom.

“She didn’t have a chance in hell,” said Connie Barnes, who lived with Munson for five years and never went outside after dark without a spotlight, her husband and his BB gun.

Munson lived in the cabin, which bordered federal land, with her husband, “Ridgway Jack,” until his death about 14 years ago, Barnes said. Jack Munson adopted a baby elk and made their home into an animal sanctuary, even letting a fawn sleep in his bed, Barnes said.

Donna Munson continued caring for animals after her husband’s death, leaving a tub of cat food on her picnic table for critters and tossing food in the backyard and out her windows for bears. The elderly woman, who used a walker, bought giant bags of Ol’ Roy dog food for the bears and had pallets of grain delivered for elk and deer, Barnes said.

“She had skunks that came in her house,” Barnes said. “It sounds ridiculous to people, but you had to know her. She was a very loving woman, so much into animals.”

Two women who cleaned Munson’s home found her being eaten by a bear Friday, Barnes said.

A necropsy performed on a 250-pound male bear was inconclusive. A necropsy on the other bear killed Friday is ongoing. The Montrose County coroner is performing an autopsy on Munson.

Folks in Ouray and Ridgway, two towns near Munson’s house, were upset about the bear deaths and the public safety risk caused by Munson.

“These bears are now not going to be fed and they are going to go to other houses looking for food,” said Kate Singer, owner of Kate’s Place, a cafe in downtown Ridgway. “More bears are going to be killed because of what this woman did. It’s a bad situation, and people are not happy about it.”

Munson had enclosed her porch with wire fencing for protection. York, her former tenant, said Munson had the fence installed when York and her two children, ages 1 and 4 at the time, moved in with her.

The bears would come within 6 feet of the porch and peer in the windows.

“We were in the zoo,” she recalled, saying she moved out after about a year because the animals — especially the skunks — “got to be too much.” While she lived there, a bear busted York’s car window and left bite marks in her seat trying to get some leftover french fries.

Munson would be devastated by the bears’ deaths, York said.

“That’s the worst part,” she said. “That would be horrible for her if she knew what her death had meant to the bears.”

Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com