This past Tuesday, May 16, I got up early (6AM)….well early for me (I volunteer at the Turtle Trauma Centre and had a large recovered snapper to release in Orillia)…. threw open my drapes …..beautiful sunny morning……and thought someone had let their dog run free the other side of my fence…….wait, not a dog……a large, healthy Black Bear!!! This is the first bear I have ever seen in a natural setting!! My backyard is diagonal to the intersection of Fairbairn and Highland….so he came out of Jackson Park. Funny, I go to the trailer to see wildlife……but I probably see more here right in the city!
NOTE: Bears do enter Peterborough occasionally, but rarely hang around for more than a matter of hours. I’m not aware of anyone ever being attacked in one of these situations. The bears that very occasionally do attack (a handful of incidents across Ontario per year) are adult males in remote areas of Northern Ontario. It’s usually a bear that has never encountered humans before. Even mother bears with cubs rarely – if ever – attack. Why not? Because they don’t want to end up dead or injured and their cubs become orphaned and unable to survive on their own. D.M.
Black Bear – Randy Therrien
