Bear Aware!

This morning, Daisy woke up barking up a storm.  I told her to go back to sleep, quite gruffly.  It was before six and this is the summer!  Usually Daisy will listen eventually, but she kept barking!  So I got up and looked out the window and there was a big black bear lumbering around in the backyard.  He was a handsome looking fellow with glossy black fur and a healthy roundness that suggests he's getting a lot to eat.  He didn't like the racket Daisy was making so he moved on.  She doesn't realize it, but she was doing him a favour.  Bears need to know that they're not welcome in our yards and so if you see one, make a lot of noise and act like you're not happy (from a safe distance, like the second floor bedroom window, like Daisy did).  If we make them welcome, by leaving ripe fruit on our trees and shrubs or on the ground, or by leaving pet food out or not cleaning our barbecues, or worst of all, letting them into the garbage, they're going to start to feel at home in our homes and that's a disaster for them.  Like they say, "a fed bear is a dead bear".