Have you had a bear encounter this year?

“I saw one two days ago when I was driving home from

Pierce’s. I just pulled over and watched him saunter off into the

woods. I moved to Shrewsbury in 1988, and It was only the 2

bear I have ever seen here!” ~AM

“Two days ago after I bought six bagels and put them in the

outdoor freezer. I found the freezer door open and the bagels

gone! Now we’ve got it taped shut with gorilla tape! But then he

got into our other freezer!” ~MZ

“Recently I came home and found the garage door open. I didn’t

think anything of it because the door is old and figured a delivery

person had left it open. Then I noticed something like poop on

the floor. I quickly got my family inside and reviewed the camera

footage to find that a bear had snuck into the garage and gone

after our dog food! Two days later he came back and chewed

on the chicken food...but we scared him off.” ~HW

“Around 6:30pm one evening a very big bear came up on the

porch at Pierce’s and rummaged thru the chest freezer. He

made off with three loaves of bread but left the ice cream and

sausage!” ~MS

“I was late for Bone Builders this morning because a bear was

walking around in my yard.” ~DP

“I had sunflower hearts left over when bird feeding season

came to an end. My plan was to continue feeding and take the

feeders in at night. Well, bears don't follow this schedule. A

ravenous bear climbed onto my porch at 4pm one day, trashed

my birdfeeder, and took the hummingbird feeder too! He had

BIG, BIG, BIG paws! He came back the next day to eat the seed

still on the ground and seemed reluctant to leave when I

shouted at him. My cats looked out the windows and growled at

him!” ~MD

“A bear broke into the

dumpster at the school on

“taco in a bag” day. He pulled

all the bags out and dragged

them up into the woods

where he had a picnic! We

tried to reinforce the doors on

the dumpster. He pulled

them off though, so we got a

bear-proof dumpster with all

steel doors, but we still see

paw prints around it!” ~DS

Mr. Finch encounter #1: “A bear came through the flower

garden eyeing the bird feeders not yet taken in. C opened the

door to yell at him as Mr. Finch, our 15 lb terrier, raced between

her legs and chased the bear across the meadow into the

woods. I followed the "Yap, yap, yap" and found the bear 8 feet

up a tree while Mr. Finch jumped against the trunk. I grabbed

the ‘mighty hunter,’ backed away a few feet, and the bear

quickly descended and scampered off. “ ~MY

Mr. Finch encounter #2: “Our dogs are best buddies with Mr.

Finch who is ankle height but, in his mind, he is six feet tall. Last

month we were on a trail near Copperas, when I heard furious

yapping. A three-hundred-pound bear, likely a young male, was

hugging a pine tree. Below, Mr. Finch was bouncing like a yo-

yo, determined to fasten himself to the bear’s backside. I

grabbed Finch, apologized to the bear for the rude treatment,

and continued. We only got a few feet when there was loud

scraping as the bear shimmied down and scampered off, Finch

giving a few yaps for good measure.” ~SB

“No. I don’t have a bird feeder...maybe that’s why. But I’ve had

possums, raccoons, and skunks...but no bear.” ~GB

“I left a 50 lb bag of peanut meal fertilizer out, and a bear

dragged it 100 feet, shredded the bag, and gobbled up all that

it could. Bears and rodents really like that stuff, so I’ve put it

away.” ~RB

“Jill (my dog) keeps them away! No sign of a bear this year!”

~SD

“We’ve got a roaming bear up here...he sits on the deck, in the

yard, on the chest freezer....he’s everywhere! One morning G

went out to the mud room and a bear was sitting on the chest

freezer...just sitting there! He didn’t get anything to eat though.

There is a bear lock on the

dumpster, and sometimes the

bear just sits by it with it’s cub.”

~BJ

“We haven’t had bears get into

anything at the Transfer Station,

but I’ve heard a lot of bears have

been looking for food...What

would you do after four months