Mr. Lipnicky:
At 4:30am Easter morning, my husband (Mike) heard our dog (Dakota)
barking
in a way that he knew something was wrong.
Mike turned on the light in the backyard, and could see Dakota at the
fence
but the darkness and the shed blocked his view of what was on the other
side. He got a flashlight and went outside, turned on the flashlight -
and
there was a large black bear - nose to nose with Dakota. Large as in -
it's
back was as high as our 4ft chain link fence. When Mike yelled at
Dakota to
come to him - the bear sauntered off - not running just casually moving
along. As if he wasn't too concerned.
Mike came back into the house and looking out the Living Room window
saw the
bear cross the street and rummage through the neighbors garbage can.
At this point he told me what was going on and I suggested we call
someone.
Thinking that it's Easter morning people will be going out for sunrise
services, hiding eggs etc.... Mike called the "non-emergency" number to
the
Okaloosa sheriff's dept. While we waited for a deputy to arrive, Mike
went
out into the front yard to see if the bear was still around. (Not at my
suggestion) At that point "I" saw the bear across the street in our
neighbor's driveway - between the 2 cars - his back was as high as the
hood
of their cars. The bear went into their backyard. We don't know where
he
went after that. When the deputy arrived we were told that this bear
had
been around for several months. He had started out near the county
line.
PAWS and the Fish/Wildlife people had been notified, but as far as the
deputy knew - there had been no attempt to trap the bear.
Our reason for writing you is - we would like the residents in this
area to
be aware of the bear. We would like the bear caught and taken far
enough
into the reservation that he doesn't find his way back to a
neighborhood.
The neighborhoods along the reservation out here are full of family's
with
kids and pets, we don't want to see anyone or anything get hurt.
Thank You
Mike & Betty
Bookmarks