Big Black Bear

            I read a blog post in The Charleston Gazette about a black bear that was found in a suburban neighborhood outside of Boston.  It was a rarity for them, and the locals came running in amazement to watch the bear climb a tree for safety.

            The spring before we moved to West Virginia, the family who lived in our house took a picture of a black bear and her two little cubs climbing the small deck next door.  When I saw the picture, I thought it was great.  I’d seen bears in movies and even in some pictures, but to know that there were bears—real, wild bears—practically in my own backyard really gave me yet another reason to be excited about moving.

            Did I ever imagine it would happen to us three years later? No.

            I had just gotten back from a half a week at camp, and my mom told me excitedly that a bear had come to the house two nights before trying to get to the raspberries.  It had knocked over the trash, and completely destroyed the gate of our fence.  Sure enough, when I got out of the car and went over to the side of the house, the trash was still spread over the yard (so the guys who were bringing the trap would have more proof), and the gate was off its hinges, mangled, and caved in.  The grass around the trash and fence was also smashed down, but it was too much for a small animal.  I admit, it was pretty intimidating; we were careful when we let our dogs out at night before we all went to bed, and sometimes it was scary to think that I’d be running out the door for school at about the time it came every morning.  That weekend, the people brought the bear trap, and nothing happened.  Unbelievable! The bear had come almost every day that week and when the trap came, it disappeared.  It was a vicious cycle that lasted throughout the summer.

People in the neighborhood were starting to get frustrated; there were so many kids and so many dogs running around that it was dangerous to have a bear that had gotten so used to humans and houses.  By September or October, we heard that a bear had been hit by a car, and everyone thought it could have been “ours” since no one had seen it in a few weeks.  Whatever happened to it, I’m not really sure.  But it didn’t come back this summer.  Even though our garden was full of raspberries.

-K