The True Story of the Three Bears--Mountain Springs Version

Baby Bear Up A Tree

"Once upon a time there were three bears..."

       Our neighbor, Mike, called other day with a somewhat frantic tone in his voice. He needed help! A mother bear and her two cubs had wandered into his backyard, and his three dogs were, as they say, 'loaded for bear!'. He was trying to catch the dogs before Mama Bear got real aggravated at them and decided to protect her cubs. It is never safe to get between a mother and her babies (this is true for all mothers, human or other) we know.

       We jumped on our four-wheelers--somehow remembering to grab the cameras--and zipped down the hill to the scene of all the commotion. When we arrived, Mike had two dogs shut up in the basement. The other was dragging him around on a leash--straining with all her might to go after the critters! (This was Mama Dog from another story.) Mama Bear and one of her cubs were the edge of the woods about 20 yards away. We could see them ambling back and forth between the trees. The 'left-behind' cub was up a tree! There was a lot of squalling from the cub in the tree, and a lot of bellowing from mama in the woods. Now and then, we could hear a little 'snort' from the other cub who was probably a little bewildered with all the action going on around him! I'm sure both were encouraging the 'treed' cub to get on down from there! He would climb down a few feet, look at us and the dog on the leash, squall, and climb back up.

       We stayed around just long enough for a few pictures--not too close! At all times keeping an eye on Mama Bear,who was pacing at the edge of the woods all the while making an ominous snapping sound with her jaws. Obviously the bear family was not in a mood to pose for a family portrait! ( We had quickly devised a plan to run for the greenhouse a few feet away in case of trouble!) When we retreated to the house, dragging Mama Dog with us, the little cub quickly saw his opportunity and scurried down the tree to join his family. The hold episode lasted about 10 minutes at the most.

       Our cabin guests had reported that a noise from the porch had awaken them the night before, and they had seen evidence the next morning that probably bears had been snooping around. This confirmed their story! We haven't seen signs of the three bears since. We keep all animal feed and trash/garbage in sheds so they probably wrote Mountain Springs off as not worth the bother! Then, they moved on to 'greener' pastures. The picture Jack got is a sweet memory of the "Three Bears at Mountain Springs'.

       There have been quite a few 'bear sightings' in the area this spring and summer. Mostly they are just going about the business of finding a meal of bugs, berries, or whatever "smells" (garbage), and they aren't really interested in humans or any other animals for that matter, unless they seem to have the food. Mother bears can be very defensive if they think their cubs are in danger.