Bears!

[samsonite]

LOL

I've seen what I thought were juvenile bears, but now realize were full grown after seeing similarly sized adult bears at the zoo.  A full grown bear is *only* about three feet from the back spine to the ground when walking on all fours.  However, there is a REALLY large bear that comes around.  He or she is MUCH taller (probably at least 4 feet from spine to ground when on all fours) and MUCH heavier and wider. 

They are sooooo cool!  But I try and limit my exposure to them.  It's just my shy nature I guess.  LOL

[clint]

Thought it would get more attention misspelled 

Had a nice sized bear up here in Sheep Creek neighborhood last night. Cat heard it before we did and jumped off the bed growling. Trained watch cat you know.

[Domingo]

Did the bear get into anyone's "bear-proof" trash containers?  The fact that the bear chose the night before our trash day is telling.  At least I assume that your trash day, Clint, is today, like the rest of us around Sheep Creek.

[Jack]

Ran out and looked at my can. Still upright. 

[Wrightwood]

Off to the neighbors bear proof trash can!   

[Stitches]

Man that's one big bear.   If he is at my can, I'll let him be and clean up after him.      Do you think that bear was up near upper Lark?   There is a trashbag in the middle of the street with all the contents spilled out.

[Wrightwood]

My best guess is that there are multiple bears in town.
I doubt the bear Clint spotted near Sheep Creek had anything to do with the bear at the top of Elm and Linnet last night or the one near upper Lark.

By the way, the neighbors bear proof trash can is all over the street this morning. I'm not sure if they had it locked properly.

[Jack]

The one I chased away last week was about that tall, but much much thinner.

[clint]

Okay, who volunteers to run out with a can of bright orange spray paint and mark the bear for comparison?

The one we saw was about the same size and coloring as the one at the guzzler. Our sighting was around 22:10. A bear could easily have covered the distance to the guzzler in two hours. So it could be the same one.

And our neighbors bear proof trash cans were overfilled so the lids were not latched. The bear tipped them over but got scared off by a car so didn't get a meal.

[Stitches]

Maybe it's the same bear and he/she has running shoes.




How is CR&R when it comes to picking up scatter trash or do we have to shovel it up ourselves?   

[clint]

The CR&R crew picked it up and dumped everything. The neighbors are weekenders and are not here.

Having said that they did that, I do not think they should have to. If a critter dumps our trash, we clean it up. It's CR&Rs job to do that.

That's one reason our bins go out on trash morning, not the night before.

[Naughty pines]

Okay, who volunteers to run out with a can of bright orange spray paint and mark the bear for comparison?

Does any one have a air powered paint gun with orange paint balls ?

[clint]

Uh sorry, that was supposed to be it's NOT CR&Rs job to do that.

[Keltnip]

We have had several visits from this guy (or gal) in the last two weeks. We have been keeping the bagged trash up on the deck to keep it from being spread out. Our cats and dog are very annoyed when it comes by. Dog wants to go out and give it a piece of its mind. Pokes me in the back with her nose until I wake up, then is bummed out when I wont let her out. Dog is big, but not that big. We live on Twin Lakes between Cedar and Pine.

[superMom]

We live on Twin Lakes between Cedar and Pine.

Looks like this bear has moved closer to town, we just had a visit, and trashcan knocked all over the place on Lark, but the other end from a previous sighting.  Got a good look from my deck and he/she was definitely not something I would want to tangle with.  Dog was not thrilled either - at first it sounded like someone trying to get into one of the cars and the dog went nuts.  Dog barking did not seem to phase the bear one little bit.  Guess I will have to hound CR&R to get my bear proof cans back.  They had broken them twice during trash pickup, and when they replaced them the third time they said they were out of the bear proof cans.

[Up Sheep Creek]

Where about on Sheep Creek?  I am assuming this is the wash area and not Sheep Creek road.

[Leftfield]

I truly wonder how "bear proof" these trash cans are.  The lid has a lip which makes it convenient for opening not only for us but for the bear as well.  If a bear can break into a car, why the bear couldnt break into a plastic can?

Of course with it being so hot now, we leave our slider open for ventilation but its right off the kitchen and trash.   Come dark, I make sure the slider is closed.

[superMom]

From the behavior I observed with this bear last night, it is not just a "nuisance" problem we have, and IMHO it would seem like we need to start changing the way we conduct our lives here to prevent a serious human/bear encounter.  And yes I understand and agree that we are in "their" territory here by living in a mountain community, but from what I have been reading today, bears only continue to become more aggressive once they have the taste for human food/trash.  If some unsuspecting person had encountered that bear last night while going to lock their car/garage door, etc, it might not have been such a "cute" encounter.  There were big bear problems here when my family first purchased the house I now live in, over 35 years ago.   Then for years I have heard or seen nothing of bears.   Maybe we need to examine what we are doing now
that would suddenly cause them to come down into civilization in such great numbers all of a (between 1-3 bears roaming through town is ALLOT in my book).  My teens walk the street between friends houses at night all the time, and now we are going to have to re-think how they do that. 
Here is an interesting article I found about bears in residential neighborhoods.  While it was written for Massachusetts, the basic info is relevant for Wrightwood. 
Scroll down to the section entitled ARE BLACK BEARS A NUISANCE IN RESIDENTIAL OR SUBURBAN AREAS?

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfw_bear_problem_faqs.htm#prob11

[Nolena]

I'm thinking it's seasonal, as it's hot and water and healthy vegetation is less available outside of town. That would make our little burg appear rather lush to critter.
The coyotes have been much more active in town of late, also. I hear them baying every morning about 4:00. Sounds like a large pack.

[Tomas]

We do need to change our habits to have less problems with bears. The bears have learned that town is an easy source of food, so they make their regular rounds. Our bears are not agressive. They are fat and lazy. I had to chase a bear away from our place a couple of times. It was obvious that the bear was used to dogs being on leashes and barking. After a few encounters with my dogs and I, it started to behave more like a bear should.

Our trash is tough to get into, my dogs and I let the bear know he's not welcomed, and now we don't see it around. There have been a few times that my dogs have smelled him and when they bark, the bear runs away. As long as there are no cubs around, black bears are easy to chase away.

It's our  responsibility to keep wild animals wild; it's part of living in this beautiful forest. 

Use your trash bins properly, and get off the couch or out of bed to scare the bears away and they will stay away.