Bears

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By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

A video of a bear vocalizing in a tree likely could have record producers scrambling to sign it to become the next big thing.

Well, maybe not quite, but it still is pretty fun to hear it vocalizing.

The video posted last week by Yosemite National Park shows an adult male bear vocalizing in a tree, but rangers were uncertain as to the reason why.

“Bears can produce a wide repertoire of sounds, typically when defensive, afraid, distressed or aggressive,” the post said. “We’re not sure what prompted this unscheduled a capella concert…”

According to the North American Bear Center, black bears use sounds, body language, and scent-marking to express their emotions of the moment.

No tourists could be seen trying to bother the bear, so that is likely not the reason the bear was “singing” in the tree last week.

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Photo credit: Lander Volunteer Fire Department

It’s always sad to report when an animal has to be put down because there are no other options.

That was the case on Saturday morning when Wyoming’s Game and Fish department was called to investigate a report of a black bear which was located up a tree in a residential area in Lander.

Game and Fish spokesperson Rebecca Fitzgerald said the biologist on site examined the animal and determined that the bear was in “very poor shape.”

“They did a visual examination and confirmed that the bear was emaciated and obviously had been separated way too early from its mother and would not survive the winter,” Fitzgerald said.

The decision to euthanize the bear was made because there were really no other options, she said, as the bear was in such a bad condition and the likelihood of placing the bear in a zoo or rehab facility was low.

“It’s really hard to place these smaller cubs with zoos especially when they are in poor condition,” she said.

“This cub was separated from its mother way too early,” she said. “It needed to be with its mother for at least another eight months.”

Fitzgerald said wildlife officials were aware of this cub and knew it had been born this year.

“So to be without its mother this early on was way too early,” she said.

She said black bear and grizzly cubs must spend significant time with their mothers — sometimes up to three years.

“It’s always really unfortunate when our job requires that we have to do this with wildlife,” she said. “Sometimes nature is cruel and things happen and we don’t know why. But we try to make the best ethical decisions we can.”

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It’s not that uncommon in Estes Park, Colorado. It’s bear country. So bears do what bears do and sometimes they end up in people’s homes or buildings or, in this instance, the YMCA.

That’s what happened on Monday night in the resort town.

It was about 2am and an employee who was working late heard a sound (yes, this is how many horror movies begin) and she went to investigate.

The employee, Anna Williams, said the thought crossed her mind that the sound could have come from a bear (after all, she lives in Estes Park).

“I walked down the hall, and sure enough, there was a giant black bear raiding the fridge,” Williams said on her Facebook page.

“It saw me and wheeled around to try to get out but couldn’t get the door open,” she said. “So I ran back down to my room, called the front desk so security could be alerted.”

In the past, someone might be content behind a locked door when an animal that could rip your head off was on the other side, but not anymore. 

Now, as soon as you gain your wits, the first thing you do, of course, is grab your phone. And that’s what she did.

“It seemed curious as I filmed it, but towards the end I think it felt threatened and trapped. It growled and started charging at me,” she said.

Wisely, at that point, Williams decided to go back in her room and shut the door.

“A little while later I heard security come in and chase it out,” she said.

Williams justified the bear’s actions because he was just looking for some food to get him ready for hibernation.

Sadly, if the bear has become accustomed to looking for food in refrigerators at the YMCA, he may not make it that long to hibernation.

This is the type of bear “the man” takes out.

Here’s hoping the bear sticks to the woods.

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We love bear stories. And although this bear story didn’t happen in Wyoming, we’ll still mention it because it’s a good bear story.

Turns out, a convenience store worker in Lake Tahoe doesn’t like some of his customers.

It’s unlikely that he will be charged with discrimination for trying to block them from entering his store, however. Because the customers in question are bears.

TV station WFLA obtained surveillance video of bears entering and hanging out in Paul Heigh’s convenience store and it’s pretty remarkable.

One bear appears quite content lying on the floor and eating a bag of candy.

It’s great video. Hilarious, in fact.

Unless you’re the one that has to deal with it.

Employee Paul Heigh has to deal with it.  He told the TV station that he didn’t expect this when he took the job.

“This wasn’t in the job description,” Heigh said. “Fighting off bears was not in the job description.”

Heigh was fed up enough to try to block the bear from entering the store until the bear lunged at him. Heigh wasn’t injured but decided to let the bear enter his store.

The local Bear League didn’t seem to have any concern over the safety of Heigh or any human customers. Its focus is on the bear.

“The bear should not be going into buildings where someone could shoot him or kill him or the department of wildlife could kill him,” Bear League spokesperson Ann Bryant said.

What to do?

The TV station reported that “experts” told business owners to disable automatic doors so they can’t “just walk inside.”

Experts also recommended using Pine-Sol. For what, we don’t know.

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When you live in bear country, you might have bears for visitors.

That’s what happened to the Redfoot family earlier this week in Red Lodge, Montana. 

Three bears — a mama black bear with two cubs — entered the house through a screen window and began to dine on peaches and chocolate.

Although some people (namely us) would run out of the house screaming our heads off, the visitors didn’t daunt Kathy Redfoot.

She told the rude visitors to leave.

“I came out of the bedroom to find Kathy chasing them back out of the window. They were no match for my Momma Bear!” Don Redfoot posted on his Facebook page.

The corresponding photo shows his wife taking a stand against one of the bears in the disheveled (thanks to the bears) kitchen.

In a situation like that when your wife is going mano a mano against a bear, why take a photo?

She told the Billings Gazette that she asked him to although he apparently didn’t understand his wife’s direction.

“I meant of the cubs, not me,” she told the newspaper. “Don is always taking pictures.”

She said her first instinct was to call the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks department for advice but ended up just kicking them out of her house instead.

So she clapped and yelled at the bears until they felt unwelcome and it apparently worked.

“[The bear] never appeared threatening or fierce,” she said of the mama bear. “It appeared nonchalant and not too concerned about me.”

The bears continued to not be concerned about the Redfoots as they came back by the house the following day.

“Unfortunately, having been rewarded for their efforts last night, the momma bear and her cubs were back for more this afternoon,” Don Redfoot posted. 

“The momma had moved to an area where I couldn’t get a shot out of our front windows, but the cubs were right by our front door playing with the “Deer Out” spray bottle that Kathy Kenyon keeps by the flower box. Perhaps, that accounts for the look on their faces like they had a bad taste in their mouths. Be bear aware folks!” he said.

The bears came back again, by the way. But this time just to play with some stuffed animals outside of their house.

“I have to say that they are much cuter in this video than they were in our kitchen a couple of nights ago!!!” Don Redfoot said of the three-minute video he posted.

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