We had a visitor the other night and we all got scared!
The woods next to and behind our shelter.
Our screen porch.
Mom and Pop had gone to bed. Pop woke up after midnight cuz he heard a noise outside. He flipped on the back light and saw a black bear rummaging thru our recyclables. He was a young yearling male - not real big but big enough. He went into the woods when the light came on.
The beans went back to bed and then Pop heard more noise - this time next to our shelter's screen porch. Mom put on all the lights in the house but we don't have any for the side yard where we are so Pop went outside banging pots and pans and throwing his golf balls to scare the bear away from us. With only a flashlight, he could hardly see as it was so dark. Mom was worried about Pop and thought after she should have pressed the car alarm and scared the bar off that way.
Pop thought the bear went away again and he checked our porch to make sure it was OK. They both went back to bed, putting all the inside lights off but leaving the outside ones on. Mom couldn't sleep cuz she was so worried about us and when it was daylight enough to see she went outside to see if we were still OK. She was upset at what she saw - the bear must have come back again and clawed and ripped all the screen down on the front and side of the porch. Pop had nailed hog wire up under the screen to keep us in and critters out - it worked. The bear bent the wire with his paws or mouth but not enough to get in or for us to get out. He was trying to get at the bowl of dry food on the table.
Pop put the screen back up right away so Mom did not get a picture of the mess the bear made but you can still see the rips and bent bars wire and muddy paw prints on the screen.
We were all hiding and scared to come out even when Mom came inside. Poor Al was way in the back room under a chair and was shaking. Mom carried him out and sat with him on her lap to let him know it was OK. He is deaf so he may not have heard the bear but saw him and was surprised!
Pop stapled all the screen back up and Mom put tape on the holes for now. Pop also screwed boards over the middle of the screen frame to keep the bear from pulling it down. They put bags of empty aluminum cans next to the screen so if the bear comes back we can hear him and maybe the noise will scare him too. We will not have food in the outside area for a while now - and Mom took in all the bird feeders too. No food - no bear! I hope we don't see anymore bears. That was so scary for us.
Mom said there have been more bear cubs born this year and so that means more bears looking for the same amount of food. We are sorry for the bears but don't want to share our food! Be careful if you live in bear lands!
