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Knucklehead - June 1, 2010
On June 1, 2010 this young blonde bear was spotted on our upper (bedroom) deck, feeding on bird seed from two feeders. It knocked the feeders down to the ground, destroying them. We had seen the bear around our house more than once recently, drinking from our bird bath and grazing on grass.
We were at a friend's house, having just finished dinner and playing "Mexican Train" when our neighbor, Vivian called us and told us it was trying to get into the house. Tony drove me to the house and Terri called 911. (The police and Steve Searles, our "Bear Whisperer" try to modify the behavior of bears in town to make them afraid of people so they will keep their distance and not cause a situation which could be dangerous for persons or the bears.)
The attached pictures (taken June 1, 2010) show the bear on our upper (bedroom) deck, then climbing down to the lower deck and climbing the tree at the SE corner of that deck, probably trying to hide from the two policemen. The out of focus photo shows the back of one of the police. After a couple of minutes in the tree the bear climbed down to the ground, at which time the police fired a beanbag from a shotgun, and fired some loud "flash-bang" rounds in its direction which caused him to scamper off up the hill on a fast run. Steve followed the bear, presumably in an attempt to scare him back into the woods.
We were told that the bear is about 18 months old, an orphaned twin whose mother did not survive last winter. It and its' sibling have been getting into trouble here in town and have been disciplined by the police several times. The sibling hasn't been seen lately and may have left town, which is a good thing for its survival.
Ron
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