Stranger in the backyard
I thought we lived in a safe neighborhood. The activity last night proves differently. Rootstown is a small rural community that always seems safer than some other areas not far from here. But today we learned of an intruder that came through our area last night. This particular uninvited guest was a black bear. Our neighbor came home around 11:30 last night and wondered why her trash was all over the driveway. She saw this bear which was standing at least six feet tall coming out of a tree. The bear then went across the road and disappeared. Our kids like to play outside so I am outside with them as I write this. I figure we only need to be overly cautious at night, but I’m keeping my eyes open and watching the woods a bit more carefully for a while. I’ve read that if you see a bear you should speak calmly and back away slowly but my instincts as a father may not follow that advice. If you live in Rootstown, watch out for this guy:
(Not the actual bear from Rootstown.)
(No bears were harmed in producing this story.)
Oh, by the way, never hurt a bear if it isn’t attacking you. It is illegal to hurt a bear. It is legal for the bear to hurt you, there’s no law against that. But you can not hurt a bear.
Ever heard of Jim Gaffigan? He does a GREAT piece on bears…quite hilarious! Good luck with your new “neighbor”!
Isn’t that crazy? I used to live in Orlando, Florida. Which believe me, is not “bear central”. Although recently there have been a lot of reports of bears crossing through roads and the such. Very interesting.
There is fewer than 1 bear per county in Ohio so it was a bit of a surprise to have one that close.
Did this happen in the neiborhood behind the high school??
This was about a mile east of the high school but the bear headed in that direction. I think it’s the same bear that was later seen around Kent, then Streetsboro.