When I answered the door, a young cop was standing on my doorstep.
“Hey, there’s a black bear in the neighborhood,” he said. “Just wanted to let you know.”
He said that the bear had been spotted in the yard next door. After he left, I told my family, but I admit, we were all feeling skeptical. We’ve got white-tailed deer here, coyotes and foxes and raccoons, lots of wild turkeys, but we’re only a mile from the main street of Traintrack Village. I’ve never seen a bear here — or any scat in the woods.
“Maybe it was just a big raccoon,” I said to my husband. “A raccoon can knock over garbage cans, wreak all kind of havoc.”
But then this morning, my neighbor stopped over with his phone in hand. “I got pictures!” He handed me the cell phone.
And there was the unmistakable proof: a black bear in his backyard, several feet from his window.
12 comments:
We used to see them when we camped in the mountains. But that was years ago.
A few years ago, there was a black bear mother and several cubs in a tree at Keene State, and campus is literally on Main Street. It's amazing how far (and into what kind of areas) bears can wander when they want to.
that would be a BIG raccoon.
We have had bear sightings in our condo complex. I've seen deer, turtles, geese, and ducks, but I've only seen photos of the bear. And we once got an email warning us about a bear sighting on campus. Are we forcing them out of their homes with urban sprawl?
Will you invite it to pose nude for your blog if it shows up in your yard? I think you should! It would be in keeping...
Nels: Yeah, we've destroyed so much habitat that there's no where for some of these creatures to go.
Bardiac: Definitely! I haven't had a naked photo in a while ....
There was an entire article in the New Orleans paper last week about how to avoid the bears (and alligators and other animals) who are running from the flood. Now that the Morganza spillway has been opened, the wildlife are on the move.
Cool! We have rumors of a cougar hereabouts. Now that would be really cool. There's certainly enough deer for one to snack on.
bears! Sheesh. And people are always asking me how I can bear (ha! see what I did there?) to live in Australia, but spiders and snakes are scared of us, and they don't want any of our things. Bears, aren't like that, are they?
But poor bear. That's all I could think. Even though they are scarey. Poor bear.
Oh, how fun and exciting--hope it doesn't get hit by a train or car or shot!!!
By the way, I had a very frightening snake dream last night.
I meant to write about it.
Yikes!
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