More Bears

Yesterday was a day for bears.

A very young bear by the highway

While driving in town yesterday afternoon, we ran across this little guy wandering along the walk-way nearby.  He was as cute as can be.  We pulled up next to him and I said, "Hi Honey!"  He looked at me and then turned and ambled off in the opposite direction.  He looked awfully small and young... I'm not sure where his mama was.

But then last night both of the dogs went bonkers at about 3:00.  Our bedroom floor is about 18" below ground level.  And we have 2 low windows on the west side of the bedroom.  When the dogs went crazy I flew out of bed and threw up the blinds.  Standing not more than 5' away from me was a huge bear!  And I mean huge!  Les estimated him at 450-500 pounds!

As the dogs, Les and I were standing behind the impenetrable barrier of a screen on the window (yikes!) the bear looked at us and started to walk away.  I grabbed my robe and ran to the mud room which is right next to the walkway the bear was strolling on.  He then turned around and slowly made his way into our backyard.

Les watched him from another window and lost sight of him in the darkness of the back yard.

After a few minutes Andy came to tell us that the bear was now across the street.  He had knocked someone else's trash over and was busy munching away.  But this time, he was under the street light.  He was so big!  I went out to the porch and clapped my hands.  He looked up at me and then turned and left.

I'm not sure what we're going to do about this... if anything.  We may call the Dept of Wildlife guy whose job it is to make decisions about this kind of thing.

Andy saw this bear on his way to work 

I could see tags on the bear's ears which means he's been trapped and relocated once already.  Often, if they have to trap him again then it's curtains for the bear.  I really don't want to see that happen.  But then again, it's 10:00 at night and I just got in from taking Lucy out to pee.  The thought of running into that big boy made me a little nervous.

We'll see if he makes an encore tonight....