[susieq]

Hello, just got back from visiting mom and dad in North Carolina about a week ago. They are terribly frail and old. I am always so glad to see that they are doing well. Earlier this fall mom and called to say a bear had almost come in the house. They live in a split level with a finished drive in garage/family room in the basement. The ground falls away behind the house so the back of the basement is actually not underground and they have sliding glass doors facing the back in the basement. One morning not long ago while it was still hotter than heck, mom had the sliding glass doors open early in the day to let the cool morning air in before it got hot out. She had just closed the doors only 5 minutes before a large black bear ambled up on the back of the house and stood on it's hind legs at the glass doors..... The neighborhood had all reported bear sightings right around that time. Luckily for mom and dad, the bear did not try to come in. One hard swipe with a front paw would easily shatter that glass.

We didn't think much more about it until night before last. It has cooled off up there and they have even had frost so we just assumed the bears would be beginning hybernation by now.....but not so. Mom called me to say that while she was upstairs in the bedroom, she heard the deepest, loudest growl she has ever heard out of any animal and it was coming from the same area where the first bear sighting happened. She turned on some outside lights and by the time she got to where she could look out, the bear was gone but she heard the growl twice.

The neighbors , who are born and raised in the area, are concerned also. The lady across the road from my folks, never goes out without her dogs. She has 5 dogs on her property and they have been going wild over something at night for the last few days.

I have told mom that they shouldn't go out after dark (although the one sighting was in broad daylight) and I am concerned. Bears are opportunists. If either of my parents were outside, they would present any bear with the opportunity for an easy meal..... With habitat shrinking, all kinds of animals are having a harder time finding food. True, bears are omnivors but there have been recent attacks on people.

It's bad enough that when the phone rings and caller ID says it's mom, that I think the worst anyhow....something has happened to one of them, but now this???? I have to worry that they will become dinner for a bear????
How truely obsurd life is sometimes......

[SeaChips]

Originally Posted by susieq

Hello, just got back from visiting mom and dad in North Carolina about a week ago. They are terribly frail and old. I am always so glad to see that they are doing well. Earlier this fall mom and called to say a bear had almost come in the house. They live in a split level with a finished drive in garage/family room in the basement. The ground falls away behind the house so the back of the basement is actually not underground and they have sliding glass doors facing the back in the basement. One morning not long ago while it was still hotter than heck, mom had the sliding glass doors open early in the day to let the cool morning air in before it got hot out. She had just closed the doors only 5 minutes before a large black bear ambled up on the back of the house and stood on it's hind legs at the glass doors..... The neighborhood had all reported bear sightings right around that time. Luckily for mom and dad, the bear did not try to come in. One hard swipe with a front paw would easily shatter that glass.

We didn't think much more about it until night before last. It has cooled off up there and they have even had frost so we just assumed the bears would be beginning hybernation by now.....but not so. Mom called me to say that while she was upstairs in the bedroom, she heard the deepest, loudest growl she has ever heard out of any animal and it was coming from the same area where the first bear sighting happened. She turned on some outside lights and by the time she got to where she could look out, the bear was gone but she heard the growl twice.

The neighbors , who are born and raised in the area, are concerned also. The lady across the road from my folks, never goes out without her dogs. She has 5 dogs on her property and they have been going wild over something at night for the last few days. lat

I have told mom that they shouldn't go out after dark (although the one sighting was in broad daylight) and I am concerned. Bears are opportunists. If either of my parents were outside, they would present any bear with the opportunity for an easy meal..... With habitat shrinking, all kinds of animals are having a harder time finding food. True, bears are omnivors but there have been recent attacks on people.

It's bad enough that when the phone rings and caller ID says it's mom, that I think the worst anyhow....something has happened to one of them, but now this???? I have to worry that they will become dinner for a bear????
How truely obsurd life is sometimes......

Oh my... North Carolina... that's my neck of the woods - my home. We had a bear in our front year a few years back, and believe me, I don't live in the woods, so that was a total surprise for us. You are right about their territory shrinking - I feel sorry for them, but not enough that I would like to be their meal.

[Raparee]

I used to work in the woods and have had a number of run-ins with bears... not an experience I'd care to repeat!

Do your parents have fruit trees in their yard? If so, it would improve things to remove any fruit on the tree or on the ground. How about bird feeders? Bears just love that high fat feed, especially suet. Another thing is dog food.

Take a look at this site: http://www.scwa.bc.ca/Bearaware/. It offers a number of suggestions to keep bears away from your property.

[susieq]

Thanks Tim for the suggestions.
The first time a bear came to their back porch area was a couple of years ago. The bear found a 5 gallon bucket of birdseed that he couldn't get open but he bashed and crashed around the porch trying to get into the bucket.

My parents are in the 80's and don't really have much of anything around that would attract a bear.....with the exception of some old apple trees and some blue berry bushes. Unfortunately, my father has rheumatoid arthritis and is nearly a total cripple. He also has alzheimers and everything that needs done around there, mom has to do herself or hire done. We do what ever we can for them when we visit.

Because of a late freeze last year, there were no apples. I don't know about the blue berries. They do have an old humming bird feeder hanging on the back area but it hasn't had anything in it in years.

I am afraid that this bear may have developed some bad habits that will make him dangerous to people and the folks who live across the road from my parents may deal with him as a rogue. I hate to see it but the alternative is really ugly.

[AlArchie]

Susie, check with the State Department of Natural Resourses, the local conservaton district or the sherrif's animal control officer. Around here they will trap out nuisance bears and transplant them back inthe boonies, away from their normal stomping grounds. they don't usually do that unless they are presenting a threat to humans, but I'd say that rearing up and looking in the patio door would quallify.
Al

[Bob_in_TN]

Susieq, where are your parents at in NC? We moved from NC to TN when I retired, and now have a little over 2 acres with the back edge woods. Behind our woods is another 14 acres of woods that they logged the winter of 2003-04. We have had as many as 8 deer in the backyard at one time, have seen coyotes, and of course all the smaller animals, fox, squirrels, racoons stealing from the bird feeders at night, etc. About two weeks ago I worked up the garden to put it to sleep for the winter, and a couple of mornings later I find these BIG tracks in the newly worked soil, yes I think we had our first bear visit. I stepped into the garden and left about the same depth track in the soil. I weigh 205lbs. so I figure this was a pretty good size animal. People had asked me if we ever see bear and I have always been able to say no, they usually smile and say,"you will". Think if we would have been up at the right time, we could no longer say that we never have seen bear. We had heard the neighbors dog barking, but it barks all the time so we rarely check to see why he's barking, maybe we should. My wife often gets up in the middle of the night to take our old dog out, now I've told her to scan the area with the maglite before they step out. I think bear season opens tomorrow in our part of TN, so the hunters should have them on the move.

[Mottles]

Wildlife Resourses commission NC http://216.27.49.98/fs_index_06_coexist.htm here is another source for you to check might help.
Hope your folks continue to stay well. I know it's hard when our folks become elderly. Have you or your folks contacted the Sheriffs deptment or law enforcement? This would let the power's that be know there is a problem bear.
Kathy

[susieq]

Thanks everyone for your input on this. My folks have not contacted anyone but I think the folks across the road might have. But I am going to contact someone there from down here in Florida just to make sure.

Bob, when we first moved here to Florida 40 years ago, our place was just outside of town about 2 miles. Nothing but Florida scrub behind us. We found the prints where a bear had come in the night, stood up on it's hind legs and looked into my brother's bedroom window. His dirty print was left on the window sil. I am also one of the few people here who can say they have actually seen a Florida Panther, not once but twice. I do love wild life and sympathize with their loss of habitat.

One thing I learned about bears is that their feet are very small in porportion to their bodies. So if you found a large print....that bear was huge. Be careful.
Thanks again for the input on this. I will be contacting someone this week about it.

[Eddy Smiles]

SusieQ.... When we moved to Florida it use to be bear habitant from Hudson all the way to the Florida Georgia Line. I remember seeing "Bear Crossing" signs all along US-19. However, the last time I made the run from Chiefland to Pinellas County I can't say that I remember seeing any of those signs. I guess Jeb Bush must of told the bears that they couldn't cross US-19 any more!

[susieq]

You are right Eddy. My husband was a longtime fire fighter in the area and recently retired from Pasco County but years ago, his family started the Hudson Volunteer Fire Dept. All the volunteer fire fighters were connected to the phone number that reported a fire or other emergency....when someone called, it rang in all of our homes. A distinctive ring that told us it was a fire call and usually one person was designated as the person to actually answer and speak to the caller. One night 35 or more years ago, the fire phones rang about midnight and the caller was reporting a black bear in their yard. We all thought the caller was drunk and hung up. It wasn't the type of call that fire fighters would respond to anyhow, that was for the Fish and Game folks.

Well, very early the next morning, low and behold there was a large, female black bear dead at U.S. 19 and the Beach road interesection. We (the fire dept.) got permission from the Fish and Game folks to take possession of the body. We dressed out the bear and had a big wild game dinner. We sold tickets to the dinner and raised enough money to have a taxiderist mount the bear. It stood in the Volunteer Fire dept. firehouse for many years until the County took us over. It is still standing in the entrance of my brother in law's house today....probably a bit moth eaten at this point. LOL.....