cats checking out the bears!

[Emeraldgreen]

I was looking for pics of my dogs to share in dog general when I came across these and thought they were kind of neat. They were taken in the fall of 2005
when we lived on the Sunshine Coast in B.C. We used to get quite a few bears visiting our place because we had a half dozen apple trees. The cats liked to watch them out the window though they seemed a bit nervous about it. Here are some pics of the bears (and the last couple of pics have my RB cat Charlie checking them out and then one of Jimmy having a good look).

[Edwina's Secretary]

"Those are very, very big cats. I think I'll just stay here on this side!"

(Are you listening Zazou?????)

[shais_mom]

wow!!

[Karen]

Wow! That was nice of you to have those apple trees just for the bears to enjoy! Were they all bent low like that one? No ladder required for those apples!

[Laura's Babies]

WOW! (again) That is scary! Bears in the back yard.... It is great that you got pictures or some people might question that story! Looks like a Mom and 2 cubs? (I get that rolled eyed look when I say at one place I lived, there was a alligator pond in the yard.)

I don't blame the kitties for being nervous at seeing those.. I would be too!!!!

[krazyaboutkatz]

This would scare me too!!! You either have very brave cats or cats that are just too curious for their own good.

Did the bears ever try to break into your house? My boss has a condo in Tahoe and a bear broke into it 2 times and made a huge mess. Luckily no one was in it at the time.

[Emeraldgreen]

WOW! (again) That is scary! Bears in the back yard.... It is great that you got pictures or some people might question that story! Looks like a Mom and 2 cubs? (I get that rolled eyed look when I say at one place I lived, there was a alligator pond in the yard.)

Yes, it's a mama bear and her two almost grown cubs. She started bringing them a few months earlier and they were pretty small guys but they grew and grew and got pretty fat! The day we took these pics, there were actually 4 bears in the yard, these 3 and then another Cinnamon bear which had a lovely cinnamon coloured coat. He wasn't with the trio but somehow they were all able to share the yard together without incident.

Wow! That was nice of you to have those apple trees just for the bears to enjoy! Were they all bent low like that one? No ladder required for those apples!

That one little bent over tree was the only one like that. The others were all regular trees. Not sure why it was like that but it still produced apples.

[Emeraldgreen]

This would scare me too!!! You either have very brave cats or cats that are just too curious for their own good.

Did the bears ever try to break into your house? My boss has a condo in Tahoe and a bear broke into it 2 times and made a huge mess. Luckily no one was in it at the time.

One year a HUGE bear came in the middle of the night. We shined a flashlight out the window and saw him tearing our barn door apart. We were so scared because at the time, our cats Teenie, Tiny, Tiger and Oliver lived in there and my husband had put a few garbage bags in the front entrance just inside the door of the barn. The barn was about 50 feet from the house.
The bear became agitated by the flashlight and turned towards us and started huffing and posturing and standing up. It then walked over to our wooden garbage box which was as long as a car but empty and picked it up and threw it 20 feet! It then went back and finished ripping the barn door apart. Meanwhile we called the conservation officer who said he was too busy to come out and told us to call the police. As the police officer arrived the bear reached into the barn and grabbed a bag of garbage and hauled it into the woods. The officer seemed as scared as we were and quickly said "there's not much more I can do other than take a few of these bags of garbage with me". We piled a few bags into his car and he left!
We ran back in the house and watched the bear come back time and time again for the remaining bags and decided that we had to try and get the last couple of bags and put them in our truck so he wouldn't scare our cats or set them free. We raced out to the barn and I held the flashlight while Scott went for the bags. He said "tell me if you hear him or see him!" All of a sudden I heard crunch crunch crunch and it was branches breaking as the bear was making his way back. I yelled "he's coming!!!" Scott ran so fast carrying those two bags of garbage and ran right into our house with me right behind him, actually I was right in front of him, what am I talking about?!? LOL Needless to say the second we shut the door we realized what a stupid thing we had just done. Now the stinky garbage was safe with us, inside the house!
That big bear circled our house for hours. We pushed a big bureau up against the door but thankfully he never tried to get in, just circled us like a shark.
That's the only time we were ever really scared of the bears. Most the bears are fruit bears and never bothered us. We could walk out the front door and a bear would be about 75 feet away munching on berries and we'd get in our truck to go to work. But garbage bears are sure different!
p.s. The next morning when we checked on the cats, they were visibly shaken. Thankfully we had built a second door a few feet inside the first door (which the bear completely destroyed) to ensure that no cats escaped when we would come and go from the barn so it kept them safe that night.
I don't think bears are interested in cats but my biggest fear was my cats running off into the woods in the middle of the night and never seeing them again.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

"Those are very, very big cats. I think I'll just stay here on this side!"

(Are you listening Zazou?????)

Oh my, she would run and hide immediately (INSIDE the house of course); and to be honest, that is what I would be doing too

[Freedom]

Those photos are stunning! glad you "dug them out" to show, as I wasn't here on PT in 2005 so I had not seen the before.

The story of the garbage bear really got my heart rate up! So glad it all worked out. I enjoy Nature but that was a bit TOO close for comfort!

[Anikaca77]

Wow those are some amazing pictures.

My dad belongs to a club up in the woods and they have seen some baby bears up there with their mom and they just come there to eat. I also got married there and I have to say I'm really glad that no bear came around that day.

[shais_mom]

wow!!
I know I already said that but I just read your stories!
My parents have a house b/n Grayling and Kalkaska MI - and we went to church one Sunday and a lady stood up to say her Praise was that there were 23 (or something) black bears in her yard that morning!
the church was called Bear Lake Christian Church.

[Emeraldgreen]

wow!!
I know I already said that but I just read your stories!
My parents have a house b/n Grayling and Kalkaska MI - and we went to church one Sunday and a lady stood up to say her Praise was that there were 23 (or something) black bears in her yard that morning!
the church was called Bear Lake Christian Church.

My turn to say 'WOW'! LOL
23 bears would definitely freak me out!

[lvpets2002]

Oh WoW those Bears are that close to the house.. Ikkss I would be under the bed.. Yes kitties for sure dont go out..

[Taz_Zoee]

AWww, I've always wanted to see bears. We went on vacation in Oregon and I was on the look out for bears. Never saw one (only in the Winston Wild Life place).
We have a condo in Tahoe and I always look there too. I've seen the mess they leave with the garbage, but have yet to actually see one. We stopped by once on our way to Reno and the people who were at our condo said there had just been a small bear across the courtyard area. I was like......Awe man!!! I missed it!!!
But I'm sure if I did see one I'd be scared to death!!

Yeah, the story of the bears and the barn/garbage had my heart rate up as well. I'm so glad the kitties were safe.