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Bear On Porch in Merritt
Taking In A Bird Feeder Seemed Like A Good Idea
June 18, 2015

T
he latest reported bear sighting, this week on a porch in Merritt, brings us a tale of unintended consequences.

In May, residents in and right near Oriental saw a bear – perhaps always the same bear – traipsing through their yards. It loped near the Village Health and Fitness gym one day, visited various yards on Oriental’s creeks — Whittaker, Pierce, and nearby Morris — on others. It took a walk on Neuse Street, just a block from Town Hall.

It’s not threatened humans, but has taken a toll on bird feeders. Residents woke to find deconstructed bird feeders, even those thought to be hefty poles.

Other residents took note. To avoid having their bird feeders torn apart by a bear’s nocturnal snacking, some began taking their feeders inside.

That was Christine Root’s thinking Tuesday evening when she brought in her bird feeders from the yard of her Merritt home. She put them on her screened-in porch.

Her husband, Jim Root, picks up the Tuesday night story from there.

Around 11:30 pm I awoke to a noise that I thought was our dishwasher rattling a pot. When I found the dishwasher wasn’t on, I turned on all the yard lights thinking it was a bear in our yard, but I saw nothing but grass.

I was going walk out onto our back porch, but thankfully turned on the light first and found this guy. He had pushed in a screen and climbed into our porch. The bear was dining on feeders Chris had brought in earlier in the evening and placed inside for safe keeping.

I ran upstairs and woke Chris, who immediately went for her camera. The bear was dining casually, in no apparent hurry and did not seem to mind getting his picture taken. The table in the first photo is 27”, to give you an idea of how big the bear was.

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Jim Root says the bear was just finishing its meal in this photo.

The bear left the way he came in. Never knocked over the plant near the screen, or anything else. Sort of agile if not graceful.

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Chris thought the bear was beautiful, while I wondered what would have happened if I had gone out without the lights on. I didn’t have a clue he was there…….save the noise. I never imagined him coming into our porch, and that could have been a big mistake.

Also the Anderson doors we have on the porch are equipped with a paddle handle, so there was the potential to have the bear get in our house, which really would have been bad… So there’s that too.

The wonder dog (Lilly, a Great Dane Jim often walks in Oriental) did not leave her cage, bark, or do anything constructive. But I digress….

After the bear left, we cleaned up, and then reacquainted ourselves with the healing powers of alcohol. Lots of it, as a matter of fact.

This morning found us replacing the screen, thinking about our role in this, and what we will do next. Removing the food source seems like a good place to start.

Posted Thursday June 18, 2015 by Melinda Penkava


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