Another thing to be aware of.....

{Photo by Ethan Livengood}

A bear! A bear!   It seems in the neighboring town we have a bear on the prowl.  The picture above is a black bear sighted in the downtown area of this small town brazenly walking down the street.  Seems like he knows that we walk on the sidewalks.  A citizen snapped this picture.  Conservation agents have been notified and they are trying to locate the bear to remove it from populated areas. 

The advice given is --Don't Feed Bears!   It reminds me of an old Yogi Bear cartoon.  

The conservation site says that black bears wake up from hibernation in the spring and go searching for food. They shouldn't be confronted or given food intentionally.  Bears will remember where food is from year to year.  

The black bear is native to our state, but they were wiped out during settlement.  Only in recent years are they making a comeback.  They are more common in the southern part of the state, but have started moving north.  

I never thought that I would have to be on guard for bears, but I guess a time's a changin'.