Waaaaaaaaaay back on April 1, I got a text message from my brother Brian, he of the otters eating herons. In this missive, he announced that there was a black bear wandering around the Olde Homestead, just behind where the barn used to be when the barn used to be there.
“Holy Cra….. waitaminnit,” I said, and texted him back “Nice try. Pics or it didn’t happen.”
But what’s this? Barely (haha) two months later, not one but two young bears have fallen into the hands of the authorities just a slender county over, having gotten themselves run over on Erie County’s copious and mostly unnecessary highways. A home-grown account may be found here.
So, what’s going on? Did Bri, in some twisted ursine perversion of the Prosperity Gospel, name the bear and inadvertently claim it? I doubt it. We’re not a magical family, by and large.
So what’s up? Bear baby boomlet? Some ecological disruption to the north forcing bears to roam in search of new habitat? Or sheer coincidence? The DEC notes that black bears are prone to roam, and the population in New York State may be up to 7,000, so coincidence cannot be ruled out.
But if not, Brian has a lot to answer for.
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Great Auk - or Greatest Auk? 
May 28, 2009 at 11:44 am
The best way of finding out is visiting the Olde Homestead and do some tracking. If there are bears around, you should be able to find a few paw imprints or droppings if you give it a bit of a motivated try. A bear is no cat and has a harder time hiding its tracks and scats.
May 28, 2009 at 11:47 am
Alternative explanation here:
http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=1520
May 28, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Not long ago, a bear was hit on I-40 just outside of Chapel Hill. We in Carolina have long known bears were common in the mountains and on the coastal plain, but they’re new in the Piedmont, and especially in an area with over a million people.
I don’t know whether to be excited or nervous.
May 28, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Jochen: One of my other brothers is quite into cryptozoology; if there’s a Bigfoot on the Homestead, he’s to blame, and I owe Brian an apology!
Nate: I’d say both.
May 29, 2009 at 8:13 am
If your cryptozoology-inclined brother ever visits Germany and needs a place to crash, send me an email.