mamabearYeah. In a nutshell, we have a bear problem. Actually, multiple bear problems. A few weeks ago, we saw a mama bear teaching her two cubs to climb a tree. It was the first bear sighting and we were super psyched. Then, we saw at least three bears mucking around in the yard a few evenings later. Then, around 1AM, I was awakened by barking dogs only to find a bear digging in our trash cans. I shined flashlights and yelled at it from inside the house, and eventually it ran away. The highpoint was last Friday afternoon when Mark heard the dogs barking outside and went out to see what was going on. George (mastiff) and Rocky (hound) had run a 200lb. black bear up a tree on the INSIDE of our fence. Yeah, INSIDE of the fence. Mark was able to call the dogs and get them safely inside. The bear climed down the tree and over the fence. We immediately took the garbage to the dump and brought the cans inside. Since then, we haven’t spotted any more bears. It’s kind of cool but I am hopeful that they have found other people to annoy. Who knew that I would ever consider a bear a nuisance?

Here are a few great resources on living in peace with bears:

(Photo: Mama bear in my front yard.)