Wednesday, April 29, 2009

~ A Thief in the night...........

My telephone rang at 5:30 a.m. this morning. I just knew it was my Mom who lives across the drive and my greeting was "WHAT'S THE MATTER?".....she never, ever calls me that early nor does anyone else unless something is wrong.
She had an intruder last night. Sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m. A bear decided it had been hibernating long enough and it was hungry! My Mom has been a friend of the birds for as many years as I can remember and has many, many feeders out for them. Not anymore. This guy ripped down all her feeders, carried off her biggest one and ripped the big wooden feeders right off their posts. She had a small metal garbage can on her porch filled with seed that it proceeded to roll off on the ground and consume 90% of the bird seed. It was a very quiet bear - my dogs didn't hear a thing. Neither of them barked and Banjo was outside on the front porch.
This is a black bear - native to Maine and becoming more common in rural areas. We have never had one on the farm in all the years we have lived here. Now that they are coming out of hibernation they are looking for protein. Blackoil sunflower seed is full of it and they love it. The bear that was here consumed about 20lbs of seed.
We followed it's trail beyond the house into the back pasture where the sand was soft. It was easy to see his prints. Jacob followed his tracks to the edge of the pasture towards the woods.

It left enough sign behind that it was here and what it ate. I hate that my Mom cannot feed the birds. She enjoys that so much. The advise we received from the Pro's is to take down all our feeders and leave them down for a week. If the bear comes back and their is no food supply, it's likely it won't return again. We have done as they suggested and are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't return.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! That is really something. At least it was just seed and not one of your animals. Hopefully, he will get the hint. Do you lock the babies up at night?

Christy said...

I hope it will move on! That is scary to have one so close.

Callie Brady said...

Hope your bear doesn't come back. But they do return if there is any food they can get to on the property. Quick learners! That reminds me... I need to get a thicker back door. Great photos!

Jody Blue said...

That is just a bit to close for comfort. My grma lived out in the woods and she had a bear poking around in her garage, she went out and informed the bear to get on out of there and she wouldn't barther (she always says barther) it if it didn't barther her! She did take her broom with to swat it if it needed it!

Sue said...

You did well to get rid of the feeder. She can return to feeding in the fall again after the bears go to sleep. Its a shame, but a fact of life in bear country.
Best to you....
Sue

threecollie said...

Oh dear, I hate having bears around. They always terrify the horses beyond all reason. I am so sorry your poor mom can't feed her birds. It is such a good season for them as the migrants move through. Hope it goes on its way so things can return to normal.

lisa said...

That is very scary. Thank goodness nothing else was destroyed or something or somebody hurt.

ChristyACB said...

I'm so glad to hear you are all alright. Hungry bear waking up isn't safe at all.

So very sorry to hear about the bother fixing all those feeders is going to be!

Country Girl said...

Oh, my! My husband loves feeding the birds, too. We enjoying watching them and listening to them. I love waking to the chirping of birds. Well, unless I don't want to wake up. Then it's really annoying!!
It should work, keeping them down for a good week or so. Then the bear will move on.
I think that's so cool that your dad works at Acadia. My husband would love to work there.

Sharrie said...

Here in WI we are experiencing the return of bears to our area. I am not so happy about it either.

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

It is good to know that the bear community is thriving but not in out backyards! I'm hoping the bird feeders down for a week will cure the problem.

Deb said...

scary...glad no one person or animal was hurt...

DayPhoto said...

Boy I hope that works. We only had a bear in our yard once, the dogs went CRAZY! Crazy. So that was one very silent bear.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Michelle said...

I was so worried when I saw your title that a predator got something. I'm SO glad the damage was just to bird seed and feeders!!!

Throwback at Trapper Creek said...

I hope they're right and the bear leaves. Hopefully it will find other food with better weather coming and your mom can start enjoying her birds again.

I see I'm not the only one with pictures of poop on my blog.