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Despite This we stay- Oct. 22, 2009

Bear Calling Cards

by Carol Dunn

HUERFANO- We finally found something disgusting that our dogs will not eat or roll in.  We happened upon it quite by accident and didn’t really know what treasure we had found until we found more of it and then something to compare it to.

At first glance, one might think these piles were bear poo.  Knowing dogs as we all do, I figured the dogs would either eat it or roll in it, which is the only dilemma a dog ever really faces in its day to day activities.  However, the dogs gave the pile a wide berth, never even getting close enough to sniff it.  These are the same dogs that will drag what’s left of a three-month-old gopher carcass to the front porch and chew on it all day.  So, having a dog avoid the pile was pretty curious.  We certainly weren’t going to get any closer than a shovel’s length.

    A few days later, we found another calling card that, shall we say, was quite obviously bear poo.  The dogs were not the least bit interested in eating it or rolling in it either.  And I don’t need to describe it here because we all know what genuine poo looks like, and this was certifiably genuine poo.

    So then we got to wondering, what are those other piles of chewed up apples if they’re not bear poo?  Could it be?  Nah, there is no way an animal that is trying to get fattened up for its long winter nap would eat so much at a sitting that it would have to barf in order to eat more.  This is way too much like the ancient Romans, who designed their sports complexes with special “vomitories” for those banquets that just got out of hand.

    Well the bears’ apple banquets did get out of hand.  They lumbered their big hammy butts up into the trees, taking out limbs and coming down to barf, then climbing back up again.  After a few weeks they didn’t even mind the dog under the tree barking at them.  And they were sure to leave many calling cards of both kinds.  They loved our apples and just couldn’t stop themselves from overeating.     Most of the apples are gone now, and the bear banquets have slowed down, but there are still occasional piles of barf and poo, and the dogs are still not interested.  Thank goodness.

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