A BEAR ON OUR PORCH!
I went to bed super early tonight, but was awoken by a thump against my bedroom wall. I got up to check it out because I thought a cat was up to no good. I looked out the window my cat had puffed up and ran away from and...
A big black bear was on our porch! It was standing up to pull the bottom off the bird feeder (and succeeded!) and proceeded to eat the seed that spilled out. The chickens were cooped up, and the cats in-- but we had put garbage out, so I guess that may have brought the fellow (or gal) out looking for grub. I haven't even heard of bears here!
I woke Cat up. No way I wanted her to miss THIS! She got up and was suitably impressed (and pissed that the bear broke her feeder.) We pounded the wall and window and yelled and shined lights out, but nothing impressed that bear. It wasn't afraid. So we called our neighbors to let them know to be careful (it was spotted at 9pm, so...) and apparently this is the first time they've had a bear sighting here for several years. When the baseball field was put up, it displaced a bear family and they had 'em scavenging around for a winter but not since then.
I feel bad hearing that, but I had only ever heard of bear around the forested areas to the south. People there have cages to put their garbage in! If you see those, you know there are bear around. But not around here really.
I know they're going around eating everything they can to get fat for the winter, but sheesh! It sure gave me a start to see such a huge beast up on my porch, literally mere feet from where I sleep!
Cat called the police just to ask if we needed to do anything, and they said most people out here have rifles they use to fire off to scare off dangerous critters. They'd alert the Fish & Game people and the near-by state park (because camping there ends in a week, but people are sleeping in tents with coolers nearby) but otherwise we'd just have to deal with the aftermath. A sheriff will drive by and shine a light, but it'll likely be gone by then (and it was.)
So that was that. It did move off after licking the heck out of our porch and my adrenaline actually worked it's way through my system pretty quickly. Which is how it's SUPPOSED to work! Dangerous animal = ACK! Then: Dangerous animal gone = Ack systems standing down. It's nice to actually have the experience of fear in a way that makes sense. I'd freak out way more to find a man out there doing the same thing! LOL!
A big black bear was on our porch! It was standing up to pull the bottom off the bird feeder (and succeeded!) and proceeded to eat the seed that spilled out. The chickens were cooped up, and the cats in-- but we had put garbage out, so I guess that may have brought the fellow (or gal) out looking for grub. I haven't even heard of bears here!
I woke Cat up. No way I wanted her to miss THIS! She got up and was suitably impressed (and pissed that the bear broke her feeder.) We pounded the wall and window and yelled and shined lights out, but nothing impressed that bear. It wasn't afraid. So we called our neighbors to let them know to be careful (it was spotted at 9pm, so...) and apparently this is the first time they've had a bear sighting here for several years. When the baseball field was put up, it displaced a bear family and they had 'em scavenging around for a winter but not since then.
I feel bad hearing that, but I had only ever heard of bear around the forested areas to the south. People there have cages to put their garbage in! If you see those, you know there are bear around. But not around here really.
I know they're going around eating everything they can to get fat for the winter, but sheesh! It sure gave me a start to see such a huge beast up on my porch, literally mere feet from where I sleep!
Cat called the police just to ask if we needed to do anything, and they said most people out here have rifles they use to fire off to scare off dangerous critters. They'd alert the Fish & Game people and the near-by state park (because camping there ends in a week, but people are sleeping in tents with coolers nearby) but otherwise we'd just have to deal with the aftermath. A sheriff will drive by and shine a light, but it'll likely be gone by then (and it was.)
So that was that. It did move off after licking the heck out of our porch and my adrenaline actually worked it's way through my system pretty quickly. Which is how it's SUPPOSED to work! Dangerous animal = ACK! Then: Dangerous animal gone = Ack systems standing down. It's nice to actually have the experience of fear in a way that makes sense. I'd freak out way more to find a man out there doing the same thing! LOL!