Black bear mother and cubs in September, 2018.
My editor at Natural History magazine once remarked how, whenever their cover features a bear, sales rise. An Asiatic sun bear, a young brown bear cub, a sunbathing polar bear or a menacing American grizzly; it doesn’t matter. People like bears.
Occasional attacks on humans and the aversion of many people to any form of wildlife hunting notwithstanding, bears are irresistible. However vulnerable we may be, humans can’t shake our unparalleled attraction to these bulky, really quite graceless creatures.
We are smitten not only by pictures of bears; we’re enthralled by the sight of live bears. Whether on two legs grabbing berries or bounding across meadows on all fours, bears in the wild are especially mesmerizing; more than deer who, although not necessarily faster than bears, quickly disappear into the foliage. Our ursine creatures seem to prefer open spaces, even during daylight hours. A spectacle for any passerby.
I’m talking personally only about black bears here; they’re the ones I encounter in my neighborhood.
This year we’ve seen more than usual wandering close to our homes. And we don’t live in Montana or Alaska where grizzlies roam. I’m in upstate New York, hardly two hours drive from New York City with its all-night sidewalk cafes and 24-hour home deliveries!
My Catskill neighborhood proudly identifies itself as trout country. But our bears are not here to catch fish. Fields and forests are their…