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Dancing_with_bears

Feature

Mar 2000

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Dancing with BearsBy Lloyd B. JonesEarly each morning I walked out the cottage road and down the asphalt road for two and a half miles. I left just after the mosquitos had nearly given up for the night and before the deer flies had time to warm up. The morning of my first encounter, I was walking by a forested area looking at whatever wildlife presented itself, when suddenly a crashing noise close behind me caused me to jump off the road. I thought I was about to be hit by a car - although the sound of oncoming cars could be heard for a couple of miles that time in the morning. When I turned, there was nothing there. I reasoned that it must have been a deer, or maybe a bear that crossed just behind me and had panicked when it saw how close we were. Pleased that a car had not run me down, the encounter was left in my mind as a curious event. Two weeks later I learned that a bear was the likely source of the noise. I had just left the cottage road and started down a long hill when a large Black Bear appeared in the middle of the road at the bottom of the hill. We both stopped and stared at each other. The distance was great enough that the bear presented no threat (I had lots of time to run) and it finally ambled off. When I reached the point where it had crossed, I could hear it nearby at the edge of a swamp pulling down a rotten tree - probably in search of grubs or ants. I thought it was unusual to meet a bear on the road where I had never seen one before and was unlikely to see another. A few weeks later, I had just about reached the same place on my way home when I noticed what appeared to be the back of a black Labrador dog in the ditch by the road. A tree on the road shoulder shielded it from me and I walked on. Suddenly it arrived in the centre of the road about 100 feet away - a mature Black Bear weighing perhaps 600 pounds! We both stopped and stared. I muttered something to myself that expressed my dislike of the situation - it continued to stare. I heard no cars approaching to intervene and I knew without looking that there was nothing nearby I could use for defense. I did notice that no cubs were following it. The bear was a magnificent beast with it black hair glistening in the morning sun and I might have continued to admire it if it had not been so big and so close! Finally I decided that if I was to get by, I was going to have to force the issue. I leaped high in the air, waving my arms and making myself as big as I could. I soared! I found no difficulty leaping higher than I had ever before. I yelled as loud as I could, and the bear fled in terror over the bank and out of sight - an action similar to my backup plan! Although my dance with the bears occurred two years ago, I have not seen another since. There is a place on the road, however, where I pay particular attention to what is in the ditch.
With the participation of the Government of Canada