Evidently, one has recently changed ranges, possibly a yearling that his mother has kicked out of the nest. It's causing quite a stir on the local Facebook pages, even though the folks who live out here should be at least passingly familiar with the idea of a bear in the woods.
He ain't hurting o one, just wandering about. This pic was taken this morning in the area of Philadelphia Baptist Church, which isn't far (as the crow flies) from where bears have been spotted in the past.
I just hope this bear doesn't do something stupid and gt himself hurt. I kinda like the idea of bears in the woods.
2 comments:
As someone for whom bears in the woods are VERY common (we have lots of them up here in the 49th state), I'd add this caveat about bears. Bears in the woods, with a normal fear of humans, are kind of a nice thing; although the dogs and I have had WAY too many encounters with them over the years. Bears romping around neighborhoods, raiding garbage cans and losing their fear of humans, can be a rather large pain in the nether regions.
I was out on a trail with Old Dog (14 yrs) and Young Pup (11 mo) just last week. Young pup was probably 20 yds ahead of me, with Old Dog only about 10 yds ahead. A bear suddenly stood up out of the brush alongside the trail just a short distance in front of Young Pup. The Pup stopped, hackles up on his back, and I quickly called him back to me. He paused, still curious, and then started trotting back to me - which caused Old Dog to raise her head to pay attention to the change in course of Young Pup. Now Old Dog grew up here in Alaska and has a deep and abiding enmity with bears (all 40 lbs of her). She took one look at that bear, let out a growl and launched herself at that bear like a missile. DEAF Old Dog. She can't hear a thing that I say...like "Come!". And Young Pup, the one that I'm trying to train to be a good wilderness dog, the one who was doing the right thing and coming back to me... Well he took one look at Old Dog flashing past him and I swear that I could see the thought forming in his head, "Oh, we CHASE bears?!!! Cool!!!!"
Fortunately Old Dog, who got to be an old dog because she's pretty darn wily and even at the geriatric age of 14 is still very spry, had managed to cause that bear's brain to click over to "GetOutaDodgeNow" mode. A short chase off into the brush, a few seconds of "well, one of these days she's going to go out doing something she loves" thoughts in my head, and a bunch of brush and wood crashing and cracking as said bear made its get away, and two grinning, tail-wagging dogs came back to me with proud glints in their eyes. They sent that bear back to the woods!
Yep, bears ARE coming back in Louisiana! And in the woods is okay. In town, not so much...
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