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[latrine]

Well.. I had an absolutely HORRIBLE night last night.  I can;t sleep anyways because I'm feeling so poorly and I was up all night last night scared that this huge bear was going to try and break in and eat me..
My dog Ben was acting like he wanted to go out and THANK GOD I happened to glance through the window first before letting him into the yard.. I notice the fence is shaking like crazy and I'm like.. weird, it doesn't sound windy.. aaaand.. none of the OTHER parts of the fence are shaking.  And then this HUGE black bear climbs over and starts ripping into the trash.  This has never happened at this house since I've been here nor the 10+ years my bf has lived here..

When I used to live with my parents I once had a bear try to get in through my bedroom window, it was literally sticking it's paw through the screen and woke me up which scared the CRAP out of me.. so I always get a little nervous when I have a bear so close. 
And this bear did not give a crap that he was in a yard with the lights on in a very small fenced in area.. he opened those cans like a pro and ate away.  If I had let my little Jack Russel, Ben, out it's very likely both he AND I could have gotten killed.. Jack Russells tend to think they are bears so he might have gone after it and I know I would have stupidly gone to try and save him.. (which would have been very disappointing for the bear when he realized I was missing so many guts anyways:P )

After he ate the garbage he climbed the fence/leaned up on it and ripped apples from an overhanging branch from the nearby apple tree... he then climbed over and I thought he was gone.
THEN he climbs back over on the opposite side of the yard, right on the gate, near to where we have a huge freezer with frozen meat in it.  He was obviously going for that but he accidentally knocked over a huge propane tank, scared himself and took off THROUGH the gate, pretty much destroying it. thank GOD it was the empty tank and not the one attached to the house.

I'm sure he will be back tonight as they tend to come back but a friend came over and removed the garbage for me after I'd cleaned it up (which sucked since bending over is SO painful and my surgery is this coming Thursday) What was that again about me having the worst luck ever?

He was just so big.. I stood in the bathroom and watched him  through the window while he did his thing and when he stood on his hind legs his head was a bit higher than mine.. and our house is not level with the ground, there is like, a 3 foot tall stairway to get in.. So he was BIG!  I couldn't get over just how huge his head was.. as gorgeous as he was and amazing.. I just wanted him gone...  when I think of all the times I've absent-mindedly let the dogs out in the middle of the night, half asleep.. it just scares the crap out of me.

So after he finally left for good I just barricaded myself and the dogs, who were scared, in the bedroom with all the doors in the house closed.. lol.. and sat in bed with my hairbrush.. for some reason when I get cared of something I just go for the hairbrush.. I have no idea what I thought I was going to do with it but.. there you have it..lol

An hour ago, when I was able to let the dogs back into the yard, Ben went to where the bear had climbed in, sniffed the area, went all stuff, hackles and hair up, sniffed a little more and then sunk as low as he possibly could and literally slunk back to the steps and cried to go in the house.. lol.. meanwhile the other Jack Russell, Phibber, was busy peeing everywhere the bear had been. I didn't know he could pee that much!
I'm going to bring the camera with me when I bring Ben out next, just in case he reacts the same way, it was just hysterical.. :

"Oh boy.. time to play... hooray- er, whats that smell?  That smells BIG! That smells scary! I peed myself! I wanna go hide in the bathtub!!"

And he did hide in the bathtub when he came back in, for about 20 minutes.. lol.. thats very normal 'scared' behavior for him
I didn't fall asleep until about 9am this morning and only slept for about an hour and a half. The bear left around 12:30 am..lol

- Sarah

[Crewella]

Blimey - that's a BIG bear!! 

Still - at least you had your hairbrush ................. "come near me and you're gonna get BACKCOMBED"! 

I know you could well have done without that this week, but I guess at least it toook your mind off Thursday? 

[Talon]

Oh my! I can't imagine how scary that must've been. My worst experience with an animal was at the stable where I used to ride horses. Well one day I was leading my favorite horse back into the pasture. Now Duchess was one of those old faithful hay-bellied mares whom you could trust with a toddler. As the owner and I were leading her through the gate the owner's new horse, Windy runns up to us and roars. The sound was just... well huge. I'm not sure what she was doing with her body but I think she was trying to shove us back out of the gate. Well Duchess didn't take that. The owner was yelling at Windy and Duchess lunges forward so that her body is between us and moves her out of the way. She may have bitten her I'm really not sure but she got the message and took off. I remember just holding on to Duchess's mane and the lead rope and standing there shaking. Windy was an Anglo-Arab and Duchess was of some unknown breeding but to me she was like a safe brick wall. She just turned back toward the pasture like okay are you coming? The owner appologized for Windy's behavior for the rest of the day. I was reminded that day of just how big and alive this twelve-hundred pound animal was and that if they chose to they could do some real damage.
Talon

[latrine]

Wow Talon that's amazing how she protected you like that and it definitely does put things into perspective, they are HUGE animals and I know when I was tearing through the woods on my favorite horse as a kid, I never EVER thought about how little I was compared to the huge animal I was riding.. and i was barebacked hanging onto her mane.. lol

as for the bear getting my mind off my surgery, well last night, yes, this morning when I had to bend over and pick all that stuff up, no.. lol. OW.  What WAS funny though was Ben.. when he came outside later on.. he got over being scared of the bear smell and instead, every time he smelled it, he would bark at the spot on the ground..lol..

I'm still worried 'poopface the bear' will be back tonight though. ( I can't mention his real name here) I was going to put a lock on the freezer outside but then I figured it would be better to just let him have at it and maybe NOT ruin the very expensive freezer than to rip the top off because he couldn't open it.. which he would probably be very capable of.. lock or no.

- Sarah

 

[Crewella]

It all sounds very strange and scary to a British girl who's used to nothing bigger than squirrels and hedgehogs in my garden, maybe the occasional toad! 

I think you're right to maybe sacrifice the meat rather than risk losing the whole freezer - very wise.  I hope he's moved on, though.  He's a vistor you could well do without.  You need you baby dinos to grow up QUICK! 

I'm always amazed (and grateful) at how gentle most horses actually are, at that size we don't stand a chance if one really decides they've got it in for us!  Thank heavens you had one of the 'good guys' on your side, Talon! 

[kat]

The bear sounds very scary.  Fingers crossed he has moved on and doesn't come back.  I don't know that I would have been able to keep so calm if I'd been in your shoes.  I think I would be with Ben and hiding in the bath tub or maybe under the bed.... anywhere far away from the big scary bear.   
Have a hug  I hope he doesn't come back.

[Lina]

Scary indeed... But I wonder how the bear would react to the dinos?...
I´m NOT saying you should try it, but I am curious since all the animals I´ve seen with Pleos get scared and run off, even our cat...
Not to mention our 7 chinchillas, who start their alarm, yelling to the others to hide and warning for danger.

But I wouldn´t try them on a bear or anything else that can hurt them.

If you can, try to film the bear or get pictures. I would love to see the giant!
But on the other hand, I hope he/she leaves you alone, and that you never have to see a bear again 

[latrine]

Well he hasn't been back, we are hoping he scared himself off for good with the propane tank knocking down as it was loud. We were at a store recently that had (yuck) mounted black bear on the wall and I was pointing at them asking my bf why the heck they had bear cubs mounted and he told me they weren't cubs, that they looked like adult females to him so apparently this would be considered a (again, yuck) TROPHY huge male black bear, I guess she gets a lot of garbage.  We haven't put garbage outside since then and he has not been back so far.
I don't think Innvo covers 'bear damage' so I am not going to throw my Pleos at the bear if he comes back, we will try scaring him off with the car alarm, music and rubber bullets if we need too. Or whatever.
Anyways, man he was BIG!!

- Sarah

[kat]

I'm so glad he hasn't been back.  I hope for your sake he decides to stay away forever.

[latrine]

Well it turns out Mr. Bear should NOT have messed with our garbage. 
I am on these pain medicine patches called 'fentanyl' and your supposed to wear them for three days and then throw them out. Well that's what I do but they still contain medicine when you throw them away. Well when I was cleaning up the garbage mess that he left me, I noticed the bear had been OBVIOUSLY sucking and chewing on them and there were probably 4-5 of the patches in there.
I thought, since he was SO big he might have gotten a bit high off them but there was always the thought in the back of my mind that he could have been killed by it because even one of those patches is enough to kill a human if they aren't used to it.

Well, my bf just spoke to the guys outside fixing the power.. they were freaked out because about 2 miles away they found a HUGE very dead bear.. dead for apparently no reason in the middle of nowhere.  I am hoping he just went to sleep from it, and that it wasn't painful or anything but he was very big and he was probably a problem bear since he had no fear of people or houses or anything so.. I dunno.. I guess that's what happened.

I am not disposing of them improperly, when I actually asked a nearby hospital if I could get rid of old unused ones with them, someone working there suggested I sell them so I decided throwing them away was my best bet (the way the label says too) as people HAVE killed themselves before with these, using them as a recreational drug and not thinking , duh, this is three days worth of medicine. (DUH!!?!)
So it sucks that the bear died but he was a monster male and even though we live out in the woods he definitely could have hurt/killed someone. (since he was fine with being around people)
It sucks since it probably started out as someone illegally feeding bears or something.. and then they lose that fear.  There is plenty around here for them to eat naturally and we recently saw a momma and her 2 babies who we left alone and they ran away from us (thank god) So.. I dunno.. we never had a bear in our garbage before and hopefully we won't again.

- Sarah

[Crewella]

It's a shame, but as you say, probably for the best all around.  It's not as if you can really keep a bear out of your rubbish, is it? 

[RedwoodsMama]

I am sorry to hear about the bear Sarah, and hopefully he just went to sleep like you said.I had pain patches before and also took care of a guy who had to wear them, he had MS, and the way I disposed of them was to cut them up in little pieces and then flush them in the toilet as there are lots of raccoons, feral and stray cats and the occasional bear or possum as you said, not to mention the occasional dog that tries to knock over trash cans. They flush easy this way when in small pieces and then any animal can not get into them. MOstly I worry about my own cats and neighborhood animals getting into them as well as there are lots of homeless people around here including quite a few druggies who would love to get hold of a pain patch. When they are diposed of in the toilet, they can not get a hold of them and it does not harm the fish or any other creatures as they go to the waste management factory that treats and filters the water and waste products in them.               
                  Just thought I would throw my two cents in for what I do as I also dispose of my other drugs and meds and old vitamins and mineral suppliments this way so no humans, children or otherwise can get a hold of them . I am overly protective of my animals but just one cat getting into the garbage is a lesson learned and a trip to the vet's that I can't afford.Sorry to hear you are on fentanyl but it does take care of pain, Methadone works better for me so I can function without falling asleep constantly. Take care and at least you won't have a repeat bear visiting you it looks like.
                                           RWM

[kat]

It is sad to hear that the bear died but I guess at least he wont be causing problems for people any more.   

[latrine]

Thanks for the advice, RWM, but we live in the woods with our own septic system, we aren't attached to any sort of city or town anything. (Which is why we JUST got our power back TODAY! A week without it!!) and cannot flush anything other than toilet paper and er.. other normal stuff. The patches can't be flushed here, unfortunately.  I do feel bad for the bear but unfortunately when you have an animal that large around who isn't afraid of people, something would have had to be done eventually anyway. 

Luckily, I'll be done with them soon as I am weaning off of them now (which is why I am absolutely insane out of my mind.. stupid drugs) and I will never ever go on them again, they are horrible, they don't work for me anymore and god i hate withdrawals.

It was kind of weird, last weekend at a family party at my uncles summer place about a half hour from our house a huge bear made an appearance and started ambling up the hill toward us (we were on the deck, it was walking towards where my brother had set up some tents)
It was huge and I was shushing everyone and trying to count the kids and we suddenly realized both of my little nieces, ages 5 and 9 were IN one of the tents so we yelled for them and told them to just look at us and walk over slowly, thank god they did and didn't actually look at the bear because they might have freaked and yelled or started running which could cause a problem.. I really thought I was going to have a heart attack.  Once the girls were safe we screamed and scared the bear away.. it made a second appearance about ten minutes later up the hill past the tents.. it was going uphill toward a spot people were feeding deer at.. but it was not scared of us so they didn't sleep in the tents that night.. thank god.  The bears really are beautiful and i love to watch them but I'd rather it be  when they can't see me, in a place where I'm not disturbing or disrupting them in any way and they aren't potentially disturbing me but if it's the bear or my family I am going to pick my family, ya know?
I've raised lots of wild animals I've found as babies through my childhood and released the ones I was able to keep alive, I was a vegetarian for 15 years, I love animals.. this was just unfortunate.. :/

- Sarah

[Talon]

Wow! I'm kind of sorry for the bear but like so many have pointed out it was probably better that he passed on rather than remained alive to go after someone else. I wonder if we'll have bear-problems. Not something I'll be looking forward to. Anyways I'm glad to know the outcome of your herroing experience.
Talon

[RedwoodsMama]

I am glad everyone is ok also, I feel sorry for the wildlife that civilization has encroached upon what used to be their habitat and most bears that come into contact with people it is because People have either fed them at parks and such as ingornat tourists who don't think they are doing any harm, or people putting their garbage in areas where the trashcans are not bear proof. But there are also those bears who despite all park rangers efforts to rehaibilitate them and keep them from becomming "bad bears" or problem bears, just aren't successful. Then there are also areas where there are just as many bears as humans it seems and there are allways going to be some encounters and unfortunatly, many of them are not going to be positive ones. When you live in an area like you do, encounters with wildlife like where you live are going to be more and more and it has to be truly scary to go through the encounters like you did with that bear. No matter how much you love wildlife, people when face to face with a huge blackbear, are going to be close to 'wetting ' your pants.. :oSounds funny but it really isn't.
            People dont seem to know that actually black bears are more dangerous than grizzley bears when it comes to human encounters.Blackbears are more protective and agressive of their territory than grizzley bears in general. People think because black bears are smaller they are less dangerous but that is not true and many people have found out that out for themselves the hard way.
               I do wish you luck in getting off the fentanyl patches at some point, going through withdrawls of any opitates is pure misery and I don't reccomend it for anyone, I have gone through it myself on Methadone and know it is something I never want to do again. I am glad you got your power back, taking a shower and feeling clean is somthing a lot of people take for granted unless they have to go without power for a few days. Glad the worst is over and I wish you well. Hope you never have to have that kind of experience again, the bear that is.

                                                                                                                                                  RWM

[Jett]

Wow Sarah! I would have been S***ing bricks!~   If I were you I would by a big peace of meat every time I go grocery shopping and keep it handy for whenever the bear comes along. If he doesn't show up eat the old meat and buy a new one.. etc. etc.. you know what I mean. Thank God you're safe! Be careful!