Scary Animal in Our Backyard ~Ginger~

Certainly we might be able to expect some of the critters we have seen because we have over an acre and a half, most of which is thickly wooded. We have a small stream down at the bottom of the property and an in-ground lap pool that we have allowed the wildlife to claim as a pond. So we see lots of deer, possums, raccoons as well as other small critters and tons of different kinds of birds.

However, Saturday afternoon George called me to come to the window in an urgent voice. I couldn't imagine what would be outside that would match the tone in his voice. I hurried over and peered out the window and down one story to the ground. I had to tell my brain that yes, I was actually starring at a huge Black Bear !!!

Now being inside the house would seem that there really wasn't an issue. Bear outside, George and I inside .. except ... We had just been enjoying the company of a very friendly mother raccoon and her 5 tiny babies on the upper deck. So needless to say, we were trying very quickly to count where they all were. Two babies up one tree, mother and two other babies were directly up the tree that the bear was standing next too. And the fifth baby was on the railing of the upper deck and scared to death. He could hear his mother uttering sounds that seemed like a cross between whining and growling. But there was no way for her to get from the tree to the deck to save her baby.

 Meanwhile, George has hopped on the phone to call 911 and I am catching a little bit of video of the bear. Then it hits me, the bear has seen me in the window, but even worse has seen the tiny baby on the railing. He immediately comes up the stairs to the lower deck and looks at the baby. I know that whatever I can do, I better do now or that baby will be a small snack for a large bear. I opened the sliding glass door, made purposeful eye contact with the bear and in the lowest guttural voice I could muster, told the bear to 'GO AWAY'. He looked toward the backyard, looked up at me and at the baby. I said it again and he immediately turned around, went down the stairs and moseyed off though the forest. I had no idea that my high pitched very feminine voice could scare off a bear, but I guess he got my drift. The tiny baby raccoon eventually got off the rail after the mother came to get him. He slowly crawled up a tree and collapsed on a branch. It looked like the poor thing was just completely exhausted from the ordeal.

 Washington Fish & Game said if the bear wasn’t hurting anyone, it probably would move along. I'm sorry, even though the 13 houses in this cul-de-sac have acreage, there are still several schools, churches and densely populated housing divisions within a couple of miles. I kind of think relocation of this bear might be a good thing.