I have this postcard from the thirties or forties that has a cartoon of a portly nudist lady (in pearls, natch!) high tailing it away from a bear who is chasing her. The caption reads: "Barely able to find time to write --I have a big bear behind!"
Which is very witty (It was the 1940's, people!) until you hear the story about the kid who was attacked by a black bear in eastern Tennessee this last weekend. They had finished their jaunt and were taking a few pictures to commemorate the event, when the bear came out of the trees and jumped the child from behind. The father pried the jaws of the eighty pound beast off of his boy, but when the scared little guy ran for cover, the bear attacked him again. When the police found the bear, he even lunged at them! The boy's shook up and battered, but seems to be fine on the surface. The craziest part of the story is that his Dad had to talk him into going to hike the trails in the Smokey Mountains in the first place. Why? Because he told his father that he was going to get attacked by a bear!
If I ever have a dream or intuition that I am to be mauled by a bear, we aren't going anywhere near a forrest. Now, I've slept in those same woods, on a rocky outcropping many years ago. We hiked deep into the rhododendrons and passed a a pair of cubs sleeping way up in a tree. The mother leaves them like that while she goes out shopping, for safety reasons. As we made camp, we strung our food high in the air between two pines so the bears would not get to it, like they tell you to. Although, if she puts her kids up in a tree for safe keeping...nevermind. I'm still not sure why we didn't leave the food on the ground and suspend ourselves in the air, but I was young (read: bullet proof) and everybody KNOWS that black bears don't attack people...
This is Zoe's impression of a Grizzly Bear. If you smack you foot down on the water, making a loud clap, she raises up on her hind legs and jumps in the air with one low, full bark.
I know, I don't get it either.
I'm sure the boy would have rather been attacked by Zoe. ( He wouldn't have been scratched but he might have drowned from the slobbering.) Or maybe not, if she bonked him in the crotch with a rubber toy. Hud says he thinks he'll take his odds with the bear, given that scenario.
