A bear in our neighborhood!

(photo courtesy of WA State Dept of Fish and Wildlife)

We had reported some unusual things happening around our house and also that
a telephone pole that had been used like a cat scratching post (but the
scratches removed about a 1/4 of the pole and were from 2 - 4 feet above the
ground) just a couple of weeks ago.

A game warden came out and basically said it wasn't a cougar or a bear (LOL now , but possibly a
bob cat. That was a relief as a bob cat doesn't attack humans unless they
are rabid.

So we basically forgot about it....until our neighbor told us about this:

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/256/story/467339.html

So our visitor wasn't a bobcat but a 200 pound black bear! It was put down just miles from our house!

Here's a great place to learn about wildlife here in Washington State - I spent an entire afternoon perusing this site back when I was trying to figure out what we had prowling the neighborhood and I had even thought it might be a black bear after reading this little tidbit "It has been debated whether bears mark trees to convey social information akin to territorial marking in other carnivores. Such marks are most easily seen on smooth-barked species of trees—alder, aspen, birch, and white pine—on which tooth and claw marks will contrast most visibly, but any live or dead standing trees may be heavily chewed. Human structures such as utility poles, footbridges, and even outbuildings may also be chewed"

Sure sounded like this telephone pole we saw just around the corner from our house:



....shows how much game wardens know!

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/bears.htm

I'm a little in shock! We live in the woods, but are not in back country - we are just 7 miles from the nearest town, less than 2 miles from I5, and miles and miles from anything I'd
consider wilderness or bear habitat!

Thanking God that our children and pets were kept safe from that guy and that is wasn't MY house that he decided to go visit,

Ruth