Bears

Moments after posting that last item and signing off, there was a muffled crash outside. When I looked I saw that Mr. Bruin had decided to visit. In the past he has not bothered the thistle feeder so I’ve taken to leaving that one outside. Last night he decided to eat the thistle seed. After watching for a bit I began to wonder if this were not a different bear. His head seemed larger and ears smaller. When laying down he seemed to stretch further and when standing on his two legs against the telephone pole, he seemed taller—much taller. This looked like a 400-pound bruin and not the 250 or so that was here last week. This is going to make my walks in the woods and my berry picking a little more interesting.

Then this morning I saw this news article:
Russian bears attack!
Huge brown bears have trapped a geologic survey party in northeast. These bears grow to ¾ of a ton—1500 pounds.

At least 30 hungry bears have trapped a group of geologists at their remote survey site in the far east of Russian after killing two of their colleagues last week

The remaining scientists are held up in their camp awaiting rescue.

Officials said a helicopter ferrying officials and hunters could not fly in bad weather, but an all-terrain vehicle was on its way to the camp, where its crew would await government approval to shoot the bears.

“…government approval” EFF that! If a bear approaches the camp and can’t take a hint (a well placed shot or two) then finish it off. From the story it seems obvious that the folks in this region have indulged the bears’ appetite to the tune of an average of three people per year. There’s no mention of whether the bears are hunted down or not. If the answer is “Not” then it’s understandable that the bears have taken to hunting and killing humans.

Related: Stephen Colbert on bears:

Bears are soulless, godless, rampaging killing machines. They are Satan's minions and the TRUE symbol of evil. Once believed to be the work of dragons, Bears (like purple donkeys) enjoy running around the woods molesting and raping innocent people and squids. For years now, ravenous bears have had free reign to use our woods as their personal latrine, protected by their "endangered" status. Now the government is wisely considering ending the grizzlies' special treatment in order to protect our honey jars and Paddington Station. Bears' strong vitality and resilience makes them one of mother nature's nearly unkillable animals. A bear has never been downed by any less than five gunshots. Combinations of high explosives, assault weapons, and trebuchets have been known to only piss the bear off. Why can man-kind put a man on the moon, but not invent a weapon that can take down Big-Yogi

Read the whole thing and get the TRUE story on bears.