Bears on our Street.

Last Fall, we had a close encounter with some black bears that decided to rip open the shed on our porch. A few weeks ago, we turned onto our street to see two black bears foraging. We're wondering if these are the same little cubs that were no our porch last year...you can see my comparison on facebook here. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

This was our third bear siting this summer, and the most exciting since they posed for pictures a bit and a bit crazy since they were right in our neighborhood. Needless to say, I've kept an extra eye out when I take Atka for walks or go on my runs.

Bears on our porch...

I know a lot of you saw the picture I posted on my social media accounts last night of the Mama bear and her cub on our porch, so I thought I'd tell the full story here. It was pretty comical, freaky, and awesome all at the same time. In fact, I have pretty mixed emotions about it, and about them coming back again. The photographer in me loves it and wants them to stay so I can take a million pictures, while the more practical side of me wants them to go hibernate so I can take my walks without having to think about what I'll do if one pops out at me.

Ok, so, last night Dave and I were hanging out in the kitchen, talking about what last few things we needed to pick up at the store to make our dinner. We heard what sounded like something on the deck, but we both kind of shrugged because we've been hearing it lately and never see anything. Then, there was a loud boom and I see the big black figure with it's paws on our shed. I start whisper shouting (didn't want to scare them off just yet, pictures first!) that there's a Mama bear on our porch.

Of course, pretty much the first thing out of my mouth is "Get my camera, get my camera!" as I'm pointing to my Canon with one hand and taking pictures with my iphone with the other. As Dave is reaching for my camera, the Mama bear RIPS OFF part of the door to our shed and starts crawling in! At this point, we're half freaking out, half in shock. She is on the ledge of our shed with her big butt hanging out and Dave and I are just looking at each other like, "Is this really happening?"

Meanwhile, her two cubs come running onto the deck and watch her jump into the shed. Now, there was a fresh bag of trash in the shed, but no food was in the bag. I should explain that we don't have trash service and were told by our landlady it was ok to put a bag or two out there in between trips to the dumpster. We're always extra cautious not to put any food or something that might smell tasty outside. Anyways, food or no food, it wasn't going to stop that Mama bear. She thought she'd found something good and she was on it. They ripped the bag to shreds and took the remains with them to the bushes by our Jeep when Dave finally scared them off with the car alarm.

                                                                                     "Who, us?"

So, we're still in shock with adrenaline running and watching the bears from our bedroom window. We couldn't really see them, since they're so dark, but we could see the trees and bushes moving like crazy and every once in awhile a little nose would pop out. I kept watch while Dave went out to put a few things in the car, he said he heard the cubs making hissing noises at him, like they were trying to growl but didn't know how yet...cute, but scary.  

I watch them run across the street and so I figured we'd be good to go to the store, I kept my eye on the window and never saw them run back our way, so we started to make our way to the Jeep. Luckily, I peeked out at the shed before we opened the door...and there she was again! The Mama was about to jump in our shed again, who knows why, a park ranger from Haines told Dave she might be looking for a warm place to hibernate...umm, no thank you.

We got her away from the shed, but she wouldn't leave our Jeep alone for a bit. We are sooo lucky and thankful she didn't scratch our pretty new car! Dave was concerned when she had her hands up there, he was certain she was going to leave claw marks. And now that I look at the pictures, I see just how close it was.

Very long story "short", we finally got them to stay away long enough that Dave was able to go to the store. He went without me because they had been in the trees on the side I would have been getting into the car, so we didn't want to take any chances. Now every noise I hear I have to look out to the shed, and last night I didn't sleep so well. Multiple dreams of bears on our porch and waking up from every little noise.

Oh and, sorry for some of the weirdness in the pictures, I took all of these through our windows...because although I'll do just about anything to get the shot, I'm not that crazy. ;) I'm just glad I got pictures this time. And if you'd like to see the Mama bear in action, check out my vine here.