By Mary Alice Murphy

Last night was another evening of bear. We heard him arrive fairly early after it had gotten dark. Our talking loudly scared him away, but he showed up again about 10:30 or so. He crunched his way through an apple or two and then left without my yelling at him/her.

But this morning, we saw the havoc he wreaked. He had moved out front. Two suet holders had disappeared. He (I’m going to presume the bear is a he.) had also opened the holder for a seed block and although he very nicely left the wire cage for it, he removed the seed block. As collateral damage, he knocked down the thistle feeder, which did not break. However, while removing the seed block holder, he managed to also knock down a hanging planter that had a geranium growing in it. He left the plant, so my husband replanted it this morning.

Then, while out on my morning walk, I saw the neighbor down from us walking his dog. He at that point hadn’t seen any sign of bear, but after arriving home, he and his wife went out to survey their yard. 

Sure enough, as if two suet blocks weren’t enough, the bear also made off with their suet block and in the process of getting in or out of their yard had bent the top of their garden gate. That top was rebar, yeah, rebar. One doesn’t easily bend rebar. This fellow is large and strong.

Since this bear has been sighted by other neighbors and is suspected also of removing the tight-fitting lid from our next-door neighbor’s trash can and strewing his front yard with the trash, the down-the-road neighbor has said she is going to call Game and Fish to see if they can trap the bear and remove him to some remote location. 

None of us wants to kill or injure the bear, but we have decided that he can be considered a “nuisance.” The neighbors down the road worry what would happen if the he-bear turns out to be a she-bear and comes back next year with cubs. The critter could also be a danger to us humans.

Does anyone know how close one has to get to a bear to shoot it with bear spray to get it to scram and maybe not come back? We are considering that option, but I’m not sure I want to get really close to it!

May your musings bring you beauty!