Tuesday, May 26, 2009

B-b-b-b-b-ig B-b-b-b-bear!!!


Oh, so maybe she's not THAT big. But she's is one big momma in my books. Turns out our bear is still with us. She made an appearance at the garbage bin last night and managed to rip open the lock we had on it. Thankfully we were watching and able to jump in the car and scare her off before she was rewarded with any numbly scrumptious garbage! There is no fate worse than a bear addicted to garbage... and I fear that might be the case with this gal....
Last night I asked DB to drive me up to the back 40 so that I could get some shots of Momma bear. She was sitting beneath a large cedar trying to look non-chalant.....
....but a few twigs and branches falling and the tussle of boughs gave away the fact that she had a cub up a tree.
(Who me? No...there's no cub here!")
I'm afraid the quality of these pics are not great...
I had very little light and wanted to keep my distance from her.... even though I was in the car...
No need to antagonize her...
We left and came back a few minutes later when she moved to another tree and were quickly rewarded with the sight of her cub shimmy up the Cedar in front of her. That is her cub clinging to the tree (if you can make him out).....
While I love to watch her big lumbering, glistening black hide as she grazes in the pastures I have long yurned to see grazed (only by horses instead of bears), I really do wish she'd move on.
Poor girl...she's just a single Mom trying to get by....

But I've got my own babies to protect. There's more than one Momma Bear around these parts.

13 comments:

  1. Oh my! I hope she decides to move her residence elsewhere! I would not like having a momma bear with a baby bear in my backyard! You are so brave going out there to take pix. I don't think I would do that!
    Although, I do have to say, her baby is very cute! But, than again, all babies are cute!

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  2. So do they have a bear removal service to relocate them if they start being pests?

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  3. Hmmm...do you have a "Fish and Game" dept you can call about the bear?

    Momma and cubs with a taste for garbage would definitely qualify as "danger".

    Want to try Cayenne pepper spray on the garbage can? I heard that worked for one of our neighbors that had a bear problem.

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  4. I have talked to the conservation officer and saw them drive away towing the "bear trap" so assumed that they had caught her. I am going to call them again. Last year we had another bear here that was a garbage bear and the police ended up having to shoot it because it wandered into a croud of a few hundred people. So sad!! So I hope they remove this bear BEFORE she becomes a problem but usually they have to wait until after. :(

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  5. OMG!!! I would totally freak out and become a momma bear myself. I could just see the headlines now..."Crazed woman takes on mother bear in backyard...."

    Don't get me wrong. I like bears, just not in my backyard, and definitley not with cubs!!!
    Hopefully they were able to catch both momma and cub, and get them out safely.

    Don't you guys have a lot of black bear up there? My hubby wants to go to Vancouver Island (I think that's the one) and hunt one there. I told him that he is a big meanie...lol!!! :)

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  6. I really hope animal control was able to relocate her, she hasn't done any damage to anyone or anything but it's just a matter of time, unfortunately. You are a brave mama!

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  7. Hi
    Oh what a Beautiful Bear and cub.
    I would be scared stiff to get to close,and yet curious enough to want to get close enough to take a
    ton of photos.
    Thank you for sharing .
    Anyway be careful you have a family too!
    Have a great week.
    Blessings of joy to you and yours.

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  8. You are so right about a garbage addicted bear; what a royal pain. They are beautiful though, and so strange & unearthly.

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  9. Chelsi~ What a great post!!! I love the pictures!! My favorite is the cub climbing the tree! I'm not certain I could handle bears living in my area...I mean we have panther's and bob cats but BEARS!! I hope they got her safe and sound!!

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  10. I am obsessed (and terrified) of bears, especially grizzlies. She is just a black bear, right? She is still huge and a protective mama, so be very careful. What about your dogs and cats? Yes, once they develop a taste for garbage, they won't go back to roots and berries, that is for sure! ;) Great shots, C!

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  11. If you had horses grazing around there, I bet they'd all be worked up in a dither! Scary!
    She needs to be rehomed quickly.
    I do think it's cool that you're so close as to be able to get pics, but the more she gets used to you, the closer she'll try to get. Maybe your place is bear-central and there are more than one set of bears? Coule explain why the fish and wildlife already left with the bear trap.
    Now...that's something to think about. How many bears so you really have after all?

    I bet you are feeling safer spending your evenings INSIDE the house, eh?

    ~Lisa

    ps, great pics!

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  12. Incredible pictures. Really special to see the cub on the treel. Always worries me when wild things and man mix too closely. I don't want people hurt and I worry about the critters that are just being themselves. I do hope they rehomed the cub with her.

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