Judy Rose

Judy Rose's Saturday Page

A culture clash between man and beast

October 4, 2008

Man vs Beast: I grew up in rural Jackson Township...the "woods." I always knew there were bears in the woods, but the bears were not in my woods. The bears were up north in places where they were never seen, huddled in dens we knew not, nor cared where. I hunted, walked and hiked in the woods for most of my life and never saw a bear. However, that has changed in the last decade or so. I have seen more bears in the last ten years than in the first five decades of my life. It appears, the bears are on the move.

Chickaree bear. Photo by Tribune-Democrat

A recent article in the Tribune-Democrat tells of a 522-lb. male black bear killed by a vehicle on Chickaree Mountain. Hitting a 100-lb. deer can demolish a car; one can only imagine what kind of damage hitting a 500-lb. bear does to a car or truck. A big boy by any hunter's reckoning, and a creature I wouldn't want to meet during a stroll on the Ghost Town Trail.

With the spread of suburbia into the domain of wild creatures, the sighting of bears is on the rise. People have taken up the dangerous practice of feeding them or being careless with their household garbage. Bears don't care; food is food. And....they are known to bite the hand that feeds them. Rumor has it, bears have been seen by early predawn risers wandering through yards here in Revloc. One has to wonder: Are they invading our territory or maybe it's more appropriately to ask; have we invaded theirs?

Funny Bones

Harold's wife devotes a lot of her time to nursing sick birds, and Harold is tired of it. One evening, he comes home to find an oil-soaked seagull in his favorite chair while a duck on the ottoman pecks listlessly at an aspirin. He strides into the kitchen, where his wife is comforting a shivering little wren. "I can't take it!" he yells. "You've got to get rid of these—"

"Please, dear." she interrupts. "Not in front of the chilled wren."