Well, this is the comic version, but it's no joke what happened last night. I was sitting at my desk after dinner, when I heard a CRASH. Then Bill yelled up the stairs, "We have a bear." Not again! I assumed it was one of those nosy black bears that wander around in the back yard, sniffing out bird feeders or whatever they can find.
But no.
This was a BROWN bear, not like anything I have ever seen before, like a giant teddy, and it had pulled the barbecue over and was rooting around in it! Not only that, the cinder block barrier around our cedar tree had been demolished, lying in ruins.
From a bear.
This video isn't of our bear, of course, but he's pretty close to what we saw. I since found out that brown bears (a close cousin to grizzlies, which did NOT make me feel better) can reach a thousand pounds, though this one looked to be a mere three or four hundred. Black bears are common around here, but in nearly 40 years of living here, we have never seen a brown bear, in our yard or anywhere else. In fact, seeing ANY bear in the yard is rare in broad daylight, but that didn't stop him.
Fortunately, I had a bear whistle! This is something we bought years and years ago, a nice-looking thing with a thermometer and a compass on it. Perfect for getting lost in the woods. And it is LOUD, high and shrill, and yes, it did freak him out and he bounded over the fence and took off (I am amazed at how these lumbering creatures can jump up on fences like cats, and wander along looking down into the various back yards to see what they can ravage next.)
I can't put any bird feeders up at all now, and won't for the forseeable future. We hope our barbecue (a fairly new one) isn't totally wrecked. Or will explode from a propane leak. . .
No more excitement, Mother Nature, please! Meantime, I thought I'd have a little fun with animation and make a wacky gif of the whole thing. Our bear didn't dance, but it rummaged, pulled down feeder poles and for some reason pushed over a barrier of cinder blocks as if they were dominos.
